Waste management in line with good practices and legislation is necessary and a crucial part of any business in agriculture because the irresponsible disposal and management of waste can harm the environment. The Waste Management plan of the supplier, which includes the methods of waste management for the specific waste streams identified, should be done in accordance with and consideration of the locality and availability of services for the production or processing site. The waste management hierarchy should be followed as far as reasonably practicable when deciding what waste management methods are to be adopted.
It is, however, true that sometimes farms are located in far-reaching and remote areas in South Africa and do not always have all the municipal access. In the case of remote locations of sites, the SIZA Environmental Standard requirements state that the management of materials and wastes must be monitored and in line with reduce, reuse and recycle best practices. These practices must, therefore, be implemented on-site through methods mentioned in the SIZA Waste Management Guidelines, such as but not limited to documentation or visual evidence of recycling. When documentation is unavailable due to the distance from the production site to the nearest compatible recycling company or being unable to obtain evidence that the local landfill site conducts recycling, evidence of recycling practices should still be conducted on-site until safe and responsible disposal of the waste occurs.
The supplier’s waste management plan should identify recycling via an external company as a nonviable management practice. Emphasis should be placed on reducing and reusing waste or recycling materials on site. Recycling via an external company should not be the only recycling method; in the case of paper and cardboard, these waste streams are considered organic materials and, if added to composting, would be considered recycling.
From an auditing perspective, it is important to consider one of the core requirements of the SIZA Environmental Standard, which states that a comprehensive Environmental Management Plan that is appropriate to the nature/scope/scale of activities needed to give effect to its strategic commitments made by the Environmental Policy is in place. The Environmental Policy and Environmental Management Plan must correspond to the activities in practice on the site. In cases where recycling via external companies or recycling at landfill sites is not possible due to plausible and reasonable evidence, including organic waste (paper and cardboard) in composting efforts can be considered an alternative to traditional recycling through external companies. Feel free to refer to the SIZA Waste Management Guideline, or to receive assistance on better or effective waste management, please get in touch with Matthew Wessels at mattheww@siza.co.za.
