Sasol Chemcity

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Website: www.chemcity.co.za

Company Profile

Coupling green saving to job creation – Sasol ChemCity uses Waste Act for a double win

Across the world, huge efforts are being made to transition to lower carbon economies, while carefully balancing the issues of environmental and economic sustainability. Within the South African context, poverty alleviation and job creation remain of paramount importance and Sasol, through its business incubator, Sasol ChemCity, is responding to these dual demands by expanding its SMME development within the arena of sustainable environmental products and solutions. 

Promulgated on 1 June 2009, The National Environmental Management: Waste Act (Act No. 59 of 2008) introduced far reaching legislation in the way waste is to be managed in South Africa. An enabling National Waste Management Strategy (NWMS) has been under development which is intended to provide the detailed processes required to achieve the objectives of the Act. The Act requires waste to be avoided. Where it cannot be avoided, it must be reduced, re-used, recycled or recovered. Only as a last resort may it be treated and safely disposed of. As such, most companies will need to review their current waste disposal and management strategies and, in many instances, put integrated waste management plans in place. These will need to stipulate how the business will adhere to environmental requirements and employ cleaner technologies.

With the informal sector and numerous SMEs (small to medium-sized enterprises) already very active in the recycling and waste management space, Sasol ChemCity’s waste management leader Rivash Panday believes that the new Act provides the perfect opportunity for corporate business to support SMEs. Business incubators such as Sasol ChemCity will prove critical in this regard.

“Instead of seeing the new Environmental Waste Management Act as a burden, corporate South Africa should view it as a distinct opportunity. Not only will it ensure that collective business acts responsibly in terms of waste generation and disposal, thereby preserving our environment, it will also enable companies to make a real difference in their local communities”, Panday said.

To comply with the Act, key elements of a company’s waste management strategy will need to involve the beneficiation of waste and putting structured processes in place, where the potential to assist SME players becomes evident. In partnering with existing waste beneficiators and enabling these to develop and formalise their businesses, companies can do far more than merely supply collectors with waste to sell. By putting these “potential” businesses in touch with small business incubators like Sasol ChemCity, companies can ensure that informal collectors become a viable and long term part of their waste management strategy.

While this is understandably not a core function of the strategy or the business, it will not only assist in reducing waste to the landfill and create sustainable jobs in the company’s local community but, for those also concerned with their triple bottom-line, could simultaneously contribute to their company’s Corporate Social Investment profile.

The practical implications of the Waste Act also lend themselves to these business-incubator-SME partnerships. In sorting waste to be beneficiated, companies will either have to create an area where this can be done in-house by a service provider on the property, or alternately arrange for waste to be transported to an external sorting and processing facility. For many companies, it will be more effective to outsource these waste management activities (bearing in mind that if they are already performing a waste “activity” listed in the Act, they will require a permit). In partnering with incubators, companies will ensure that what might otherwise be an informal group of collectors is equipped with the skills they need to become a sustainable – and thereby long-term, viable SME supplier. In the case of Sasol ChemCity for example, we are already assisting a number of SMEs in this arena with, among others, creating bankable business plans, formalisation of company structures, branding of their businesses and in partnering with municipalities. As such, one can create a viable supply chain with value extending directly from a company’s waste disposal area to the community.

Sasol ChemCity is supporting entrepreneurs in incubating projects such as the use of fine ash in alternative building materials, beneficiation of wood waste, green waste composting, vermin-composting, recycling, beneficiation of waste tyres, reuse of solid waste and the treatment of waste water.

It is important that the Act is viewed as a real empowerment opportunity and a means of making an extremely positive and sustainable difference in communities. This will allow corporate South Africa to catalyse the intended effects of the Act to extend beyond the environment alone. By collaborating with incubators and municipalities, companies will ensure that future generations not only benefit from a cleaner South Africa, but from the jobs and entrepreneurial businesses that these partnerships enable.

About ChemCity

With emerging socio-political contexts and legislative requirements, ChemCity’s proven ability to commercialise start-up’s and small businesses affords Sasol a unique opportunity to respond to SA’s needs economic development, as a caring and committed corporate citizen. ChemCity’s mandate is to help eradicate poverty through job creation initiatives, targeting the SMME sector, and focusing on chemical, energy and related industries. ChemCity also focuses on supplier development and social enterprise development to ensure that the communities which Sasol operates in have better quality of life.