Botswana's Strategy for Waste Management.

The present Strategy endeavours to ensure the sustainable and the environmentally sound management of waste which would guarantee to a significant extent the following: 1) Preservation, protection and improvement of the quality of the environment; 2) Contribution towards the protection of human health; 3) Ensuring prudent and rational utilisation of the natural resources. The Strategy is proactive and will incorporate various principles which will make its implementation both feasible and achievable. The fundamental principles embodied in this Strategy include the Principle of Prevention whose basic premise is to minimise environmental pollution by introducing appropriate management measures before damage occurs; the Polluter pays Principle which allocates the costs of preventing, eliminating or compensating for damage to the environment to the party responsible; and the Principle of Co-operation which seeks to foster neighbourliness and co-operation among all social groups in the resolution of environmental problems. In addition the Strategy has adopted the internationally acceptable Waste Management Hierarchy predicated on Waste Reduction, Re-use and Recycling. This Strategy calls, for. technology initiatives inkeeping with Botswana's economic ability to transform waste into useful bye products, or effective attenuation of hazardous forms of waste before disposal. The objectives, therefore, of this Strategy are numerous but the most important include the following: 1) Minimising and reducing wastes in industry, commerce and private households; 2) Maximising environmentally sound waste re-use and recycling; 3) Promoting environmentally sound waste collection, treatment, and disposal.
In drawing up this Strategy the Government introduces management mechanisms and a conceptual framework considered vital for its implementation, particularly the regulatory requirements, the planning demands, the market based economic philosophy, the information and communications programmes. The Waste Management Act will strengthen and support implementation of this strategy since waste management is legislation driven and legislation is ineffective without enforcement.
This Strategy reviews treatment options of various waste streams, it also considers waste as an economic good, and identifies waste as a source of raw material for other beneficial uses. Its effective implementation guarantees a conservative use of existing stocks of natural resources necessary in the economic production cycle. Most importantly the strategy consigns waste which cannot be reused or recycled to the environmentally sound and adequately engineered disposal facilities. Execution of this requirement would ensure avoidance of environmental costs and financial burden which future generations may have to carry.
Part 9 of the Strategy deals with actions to be taken in order to achieve these objectives. The Strategy is based on three cardinal objectives: 1) Protection of human health; 2) Protection of the environment (water, air, soil, biodiversity); 3) Protection of natural resources - land, raw materials and energy. In addition, a fundamental tenet is the internationally accepted Waste Management Hierarchy. The second Chapter of Part 9 establishes that the most important measures, according to their order of priority, are: i) Training of waste managers; ii) Provision and control of landfills to acceptable standards; iii) Control of litter; iv) Control of waste storage, collection and transportation to acceptable standards; v) Control of industrial wastes and their disposal; vi) Control of private sector waste management activities; vii) Recycling of selected waste streams; viii) Enforcing the Basel Convention. Whereas lower priority measures (to be addressed in the near future) are: i) Waste minimisation; ii) Control of packaging; iii) Return of goods to manufacturers; iv) Energy recovery.
The above listed measures will be achieved through: i) Development and provision of training courses; ii) Enactment of appropriate legislation; iii) Creation of a Department of Sanitation and Waste Management (DSWM) within the Ministry of Local Government, Lands and Housing; iii) Necessary financing through the national budget and user charges; iv) Assistance to local authorities to strengthen and restructure their waste management function; v) Implementing public awareness campaigns; vi) Education.