eWASA News – 28 Jan 2022

The eThekwini municipality has finally admitted that its overflowing sewage treatment works were responsible for the tide of black water pollution that led to the closure of Durban beaches during the New Year holiday season. But it’s refusing to publicly release the results of recent beach water quality samples.

For at least 25 days, a steady stream of partially treated human waste has been emptying into Durban’s Umgeni River, just 4km upstream from Durban’s tourist beaches. And it hasn’t stopped yet.

Based on photographic evidence of black water pollution at the Blue Lagoon and continued discharges from the Willowfield outlet, it appears that the flow of dangerous levels of pathogens and bacteria towards Durban’s beaches has continued almost non-stop from at least December 31.

The public health risks of municipal sewage pollution in rivers across South Africa is, sadly, nothing new. But when senior public officials appear on television in an attempt to bamboozle the public that all is well or to deflect legitimate concerns about public health, that is another issue.

Read more on Daily Maverick.

E-Scrap News reports: Despite most countries having at least some e-scrap-related legislation, recycling rates in 13 Latin American countries are very low, at just under 3%, a UN report found.

Overall generation of electronic waste in the region is also rising at a rate faster than the global average. Between 2010 and 2019, e-waste generation in the region increased by 49% to 1.3 million metric tons, with a collection rate of about 2.7%, according to the report.

The report counts both electronics and appliances as e-waste, including heat pumps and central heating systems. To increase collection rates, countries should focus on preventing waste, raising public awareness of recycling, adding more collection centers, increasing collection safety for workers and enforcing current laws or passing new ones, the report suggested.  Read the article here.

We have received confirmation that DFFE has received our query about the finalisation of the EPR fee structure. They promised feedback early in 2022. We will keep you posted.

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