In this issue

groundWork is a non-profit environmental justice service and developmental 3 From the Smoke Stack organization working primarily in South 5 Africa is breaking free Africa, but increasingly in Southern Africa. 7 Coal makes plastics groundWork seeks to improve the quality of life of vulnerable people in 8 The coal-affected visit parliament Southern Africa through assisting civil 9 The rich profit – the poor suffer society to have a greater impact on environmental governanace. groundWork 11 CLG gets new energy! places particular emphasis on assisting vulnerable and previously disadvantaged 12 An act of dispossession people who are most affected by 14 Plastic is forever environmental injustices. groundWork’s current campaign areas 15 How did we get to be eating plastic? are: Climate Justice and Energy, Coal, 17 Dotting the i and crossing the t in intern Waste and Environmental Health. groundWork is constituted as a trust. 19 Environmental crimes: the real heroes The Chairperson of the Board of Trustees is Joy Kistnasamy, head of the 21 Plastics in the healthcare industry Environmental Health Department at the 23 Small ways to #BreakFreeFromPlastic Durban University of Technology. The other trustees are: Farid Esack, Patrick 24 Wasting jobs Kulati, Richard Lyster, Sandile Ndawonde and Jon White. 26 Obituaries 28 Burning Coal groundWork’s STAFF ARE: Director: Bobby Peek Deputy Director: Gill Addison Help us spread the word Administrative Assistant: Bathoko Sibisi www.facebook.com/groundWorkSA Waste Campaign Manager: Musa Chamane Coal Campaign Manager: Robby www.twitter.com/groundworkSA Mokgalaka Environmental Health Campaign www.instagram.com/ Manager: Rico Euripidou groundWorkSA groundWork.SA Campaign Research and Technical Assistant: Niven Reddy Global Green and Healthy Hospital AFFILIATIONS: (GGHH) Network Campaign Manager: groundWork is affiliated to the following international Luqman Yesufu organizations: Climate and Energy Justice Health Care Without Harm Campaigner: Samuel Chademana International POPs Elimination Network Community Activist: Thomas Mnguni Basel Action Network Media, Information and Publications Oilwatch International Campaign Manager: Nombulelo Shange Researcher: David Hallowes Global Anti-Incineration Alliance Bookkeeper: Gill Waterworth International Coal Network Break Free from Plastic HOW TO CONTACT US: groundWork is the South African member of Friends of the Earth 6 Raven Street Pietermaritzburg International P O Box 2375, Pietermaritzburg, 3200 CREDITS: Tel: 033-342-5662 Layout by Boutique Books – Printing by ArrowPrint Fax: 033-342-5665 e-mail: team@groundWork. org. za Web: www. groundWork. org. za #BreakFreeFromPlastic. Art by: Ludwig Bengtsson Sonesson

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From the Smoke Stack Credit: groundWork

by groundWork Director, Bobby Peek

It is the end of another busy year for groundWork. because “the Department of Mineral Resources has We are not known for slow and quiet years. requested” that she take this action. So we won The standing joke in the office is that next year this battle but the war is still on. will be less hectic! We ended this year off with While there are many hurdles still to cross, the an interesting meeting that brought together future looks brighter. A mention has to be made of seventeen Africans from thirteen African countries the Meridian Economics report that was released to work on a strategy to #BreakFreeFromPlastics, during this period and that clearly concludes that and to ensure that, as there is a global push to deal South Africa does not need new coal or nuclear and with plastic pollution, Africa is not ignored and critically can save R17 billion Rand if Eskom curtails that the complicity of corporates in this scourge is Kusile’s construction and decommissions older coal- brought to the fore. So the theme for this newsletter fired power stations. The study used as a reference is plastic. Considering where plastic comes from, and confirmed the outcome of the South African the environmental injustices we face can all be state owned Council for Scientific Research’s own linked to this one way or the other. findings in response to the Integrated Resource “We are not there …” was our response to a media Plan: that South Africa does not need a nuclear, query on what the South African government coal or gas power procurement or construction should ask for at the annual climate jamboree, the programme. 23rd Conference of the Parties – aka Cop23 – held So, from the communities on the ground, to the in Bonn, Germany. Yes, you read right, the 23rd, and legal challenges, to independent research, it is clear still the temperature is rising. It was a Fiji CoP – that we now have to start working on what Life held in Germany with all of Europe’s paranoid visa After Coal means. The groundWork Report 2017: processes – so participation by those affected was Destruction of the Highveld – Part 2 concludes with limited. We were tempted to run a blank page with this reality: that the discussion on a just transition the phrase “… we were not there”, but it might has to start now and it has to start with the people have gone down like a lead balloon. So on this and workers on the ground – in the “periphery of annual depressed note I start this Smoke Stack. But the periphery”, as Dr. Patrick Maesela, member of while depressing at an international level, locally the Portfolio Committee on Health, calls for. in various places around the world, despite the brutality of the extractive fossil fuel industry, people Critically we must be cautious about false solutions are resisting and stopping the expansion of fossil such as the one that Trump tried to push with his fuels. Let us doff our hats to those struggles. team at the undemocratic climate jamboree. As the groundWork report concludes: The very many proposals by private companies to develop coal-fired power stations are still far from “ … we have to be vigilant to maintain and the starting blocks. While I write this, the Minister rebuild grass roots democracy, and to see of Environment, Ms Molewa, has set aside the through the active lies and false promises of environmental authorization for the Groothoek a dying fossil fuel economy. False solutions mine. This is great, but one has to wonder at the to the climate and ecological crisis include politics behind this when the minster says it is the various forms of ‘clean coal’ – always a

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contradiction in terms – and nuclear power, Highveld we lost stalwart Patrick Jacobs, who always as well as privatized renewable energies and questioned not only corporate environmental other ‘green economy’ solutions take.” injustices but our practice in how we challenge them. From south Durban, and Wentworth in These are interesting times politically. We have had particular, we lost Peter McKenzie who portrayed the opportunity to be in parliament with community the world of south Durban, its pollution, its people people twice in this period, and on both occasions and its challenges in a way that allowed people to the response was positive. The chair of the Portfolio build rather than despair. As is said of him: “… a Committee on Health, Ms Mary-Ann Dunjwa, has fearless artist and photographer who placed people stated that we need to address the speaker of at the centre of his work”. I regret not spending parliament to get all relevant portfolio committees more time with him, speaking about my own to hear the story of coal and its impacts. This was southern Durban “demons” and getting him to at a briefing by Dr. Mike Holland and community work on environmental justice images. people in parliament on the 8th of September. We also said good-bye to Wally Menne, a hard- Then on the 8th of November, in a sitting of the assed forest activist who took no prisoners. Wally Portfolio Committee on Environment, deputy was moulded in the form of an old-school union director general of the Department of Environmental organizer. He was uncompromising and held his Affairs, Judy Beaumont, visibly agreed and, taken positions clearly. There was no middle ground that by surprise, raised concern as to how Eskom could corporates and reformist NGOs could force him unilaterally extend the life span of their plants into. Wally made sure that in our environmental considering that South Africa’s commitments justice activism we pulled together – and this was toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions work what gave rise to Timberwatch, which he ran for on a fifty-year life span and not sixty years. The years, many of those without financial support. Portfolio Committee summoned Eskom to appear in parliament in February 2018. During this period we were infused with the passion of youth. We have had Zinzi Sibanda of The fact that parliament and indeed staff within the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Ludovica Serafini the Department of Environmental Affairs are of the University of Bologna and Ludwig Sonesson concerned must be welcomed. The writing is on from our partner in Sweden, Afrikagrupperna. They the wall that with climate change will come “death have all brought a joie de vivre to groundWork. For and destruction”. Consider the recent storms that these months we have had five people on our team shook Durban. More than ten people died in a below the age of thirty – YES! We have appreciated storm that dumped more than 100mm of rain in their time with us, and hope this was a learning the southern suburbs of Durban. Suburbs, that are experience for them. home to various fossil fuel industries, which are the drivers of climate change and which were, ironically, Finally, I have just returned from meeting with awarded an Honorary Climate and Clean Air Award fellow NGOs and movements from across Southern at the climate jamboree. Ironic, because it is the Africa, talking about feminism and solidarity. In the very same Durban that did not have an effective midst of this, the Zimbabwean chaos emerged. I warning system for storms to prevent the deaths do not know what the final outcome will be – it of people and that does not have a functional air is too early – but we hope that there will be true pollution monitoring system – a system that they “transformation and democratisation” as the end have purposefully allowed to decay so that polluters result. cannot be held accountable. In solidarity, This period was also a particularly sad period for Bobby groundWork and environmental justice. In the

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Africa is breaking free

by Niven Reddy Plastic has – quite literally – become an integral part of life. Now it is time to #BreakFreeFromPlastic

As American pop duo Mary Mary once said, for convenience and identify single-use plastics as “Get the shackles off my feet so I can break free something we can do without. One way to engage from plastic”. Wait... it might have been, “so I companies and corporations is to put a spotlight on can dance”. I’m pretty sure it was the first one, the role they play in perpetuating this crisis through which I think resonates with the plastic crisis that their use of single use plastics as well as zero to low- we currently experience in Africa. We seem to be value packaging (like sachets) that typically end up crippled by the power of industry and unable to polluting the environment. Ultimately we should release ourselves from their stranglehold. This can be encouraging cities to address the problem by be seen by the total disregard for post-consumer adopting a Zero Waste approach through at-source responsibility which has left us with a major waste segregation, composting and recycling downstream plastic problem. schemes. #BreakFreeFromPlastic is a global movement that Fossil fuel production effectively subsidizes plastic envisions a future free of plastic pollution. Since and petrochemical production. Phasing out fossil its launch in September 2016, over 900 non- fuels in response to climate change will shift major governmental organizations from across the world costs to plastic producers as production will become have joined the movement to demand massive more expensive as fossil fuels are phased out. reductions in single-use plastics and to push for The global campaign has three priority regions lasting solutions to the plastic pollution crisis. to addressing plastic pollution: South East Asia, These organizations share the common values of North America and Europe. Work in Latin America environmental protection and social justice, which and Africa continues to flow to address plastic guide their work at the community level and pollution and, as the movement grows and we gain represent a unified global vision. momentum, these other regions would also have The initial launch of the movement happened in the targeted, focused campaigns. Philippines and various groups together adopted Earlier this year, we attended the annual a strategy known as the Tagaytay Strategy. “We #BreakFreeFromPlastic workshop in Indonesia and I believe in a world where the land, sky, oceans and presented on Africa as an emerging region and what water are home to an abundance of life, not an the next steps would be. While the downstream abundance of plastic, and where… the principles pollution in Africa may not be as devastating as of environmental justice, social justice, public health that experienced in South East Asia, we should not and human rights lead government policy, not the wait for that stage to arrive here and must instead demands of elites and corporations… This is a be proactive and organize key organizations who future we are creating together.” are working towards mitigating the impacts of There are three key pillars in this movement that plastic on the environment. This led to us hosting form the basis from which we campaign and outline a workshop in Durban which brought together what we ultimately aim to achieve: change the people from thirteen different countries in Africa to narrative, change corporate behaviour and build develop a medium-term strategy for Africa on how zero waste cities. Changing the narrative highlights we proceed and campaign collectively. the problem of single-use plastics that are ending Africa has already taken some seriously big steps up in our oceans, beaches, roads and waterways. to reducing plastic pollution. There are around We need to look away from thinking of plastic

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eighteen countries in Africa that have some sort 140 kilometres away. Durban Partnership against of legislation in place to restrict the use of plastic Plastic Pollution also attended the workshop and bags. Some are complete bans while others are gave some context to the situation in Durban and imposed levies. As impressive as that may sound, the regular initiatives to clean our beaches. it isn’t exactly the case. Despite having numerous The South African Waste Pickers’ Association bans in Africa, only one country has successfully (SAWPA) was also present for the duration of implemented the plastic bag ban: Rwanda. the meeting and gave our colleagues from Africa We had hoped a colleague of ours from Rwanda an insight into the role that waste pickers play in would attend the workshop and share her diverting waste, and in particular plastic, from experiences with us but unfortunately, due to some landfill. SAWPA also expressed their irritation at diplomatic complications, she was unable to obtain companies approaching municipalities with their a visa. However, when you have a techie organizing “golden solution” known as waste-to-energy. We a meeting, of course there are other ways to include have also noticed that this is an emerging trend the Rwanda discussion in the programme. We had in Africa. Failed western incineration technologies an hour-long Skype call and it was really interesting are being brought into Africa but these directly to hear how much the country has progressed in affect the livelihoods of waste pickers as they burn maintaining the ban since 2008 but also ensuring recyclable materials to meet daily quotas, to say enforcement by imposing fines on industries, nothing of the pollution hazards that they represent. commercial companies or any person found in While we know that this workshop is just the possession of prohibited polythene bags without beginning of our collective resistance to the plastic authorization in their stores, manufacturing or industry, we are motivated and determined to create using them. You could spend up to twelve months a future free of plastics. We need companies to start in prison for carrying a plastic bag! looking at products in the design phase and not use To give our Africa meeting local context, in Durban plastic in products unnecessarily. We cannot only we recently experienced a major storm that caused look at the plastic crisis as a waste management a container carrying twenty tonnes of plastic issue. There needs to be some intervention to limit pellets, known as nurdles, to be spilled into the sea. the production of plastic and phase out single-use Billions of these nurdles can still be seen a month plastics entirely. This is the only way we can break after the event all over Durban beaches. The extent free from plastic. of the spill goes as far north as Richards Bay, some

Participants from 13 African countries and guests from South Africa, Argentina and Sweden at our African strategy meeting to address plastic pollution). Credit: groundWork

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Coal makes plastics

by Robby Mokgalaka

An addiction to coal abets an addiction to plastic

Coal has affected our lives in many ways taking into cognizance that they are more of an inconceivable in a lay man’s mind. Coal is commonly unsolvable problem than a boost to the economy. known for generating electricity and for household The South African government, through the use in making fire. Very few people have the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), is knowledge and understanding that plastic is one of making financial provisions in the form of grants the by-products of coal. available to people or groups dealing with waste to Sasol, the South African petrochemical company, make living, particularly including work on plastic also makes plastics from its feedstock, which in waste. This is to encourage initiatives to reduce the turn originates from oil, natural gas or coal. Sasol plastic problem. Chemical Industries, located primarily in Sasolburg, The industries, on the other hand, are proposing uses the same technology as its Secunda coal-to- a problem solving initiative of waste-to-energy: liquid (CLT) plant. The plant is inarguably polluting burning plastic to generate energy. The idea behind and consumes about 41-million tonnes of coal each the proposal is that this will reduce the plastic year. Ideally, Sasol extracts gas from coal, refines problem since plastic is not biodegradable and it what is left and makes plastics at their refinery will also generate energy to be used in the country. plants. The operational process will entail burning plastic in In its plastic production process, the Sasol plant uses an incinerator to generate energy. a carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology The initiative has dire shortcomings because the to reduce its carbon footprint. Regrettably, the burning of plastic will still emit greenhouse gases, applied technology has not proven effective in contributing to the carbon footprint and ultimately reducing emissions. Although Sasol claims success affecting people’s health and also leading to an in reducing its emissions, in 2004 Sasol’s Secunda increase in the climate change mishaps. plant emitted 52-million tonnes of CO2, increasing its emission to almost twice what it was. They are In the end, coal is a problem, starting from extraction one of the biggest manufacturers of plastics from and continuing through to the processing of it and coal in South Africa and also notoriously one of the to end products. It causes air pollution, affecting biggest polluters in the country. people’s health and causing premature deaths. Air pollution also contributes to high levels of Plastic as one of the by-products of Sasol has in greenhouse gases which accelerate climate change many ways created problems for the government, calamities affecting people in many ways. since plastic is known to be a non-biodegradable waste material. Africa takes the plastic bag problem There is also the undebatable reality of the existing very seriously. Eighteen countries on the continent linkage between coal and our plastic problem, have either banned them completely or charge a tax which is hitting our country very hard causing on them. African countries such as Kenya, Eritrea, problems for the government, the people and the Morocco and others have already banned plastics, environment.

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The coal-affected visit parliament

by Robby Mokgalaka

groundWork, through the two campaigns Coal and Sanitation – we managed to secure the attendance Environmental Health, decided to make a concerted of the portfolio committees on Health and effort in engaging with the parliamentarians in Environmental Affairs. an attempt to escalate environmental and health Unfortunately, this was not a surprise for us as impacts of coal to the higher and influential we know how almost impossible it is to get the government figures to address concerns more committees to have a discussion with people on the effectively, since the government departments have ground, unless it is at government’s own initiative. failed the impacted poor communities dismally. With the few we had we made sure that we used On the 6th of September 2017, the Coal Campaign the opportunity to our advantage to ensure that gathered and transported the coal-affected the message hit home. communities from Newcastle (KZN), Fuleni (KZN), We had a whole-day preparation session to Highveld (Mpumalanga), Vaal (Gauteng), Somkhele prepare our presentations, build confidence in the (KZN), Lephalale (Limpopo) and Wakkerstroom community reps and support them in sending a (Mpumalanga), to the South African parliament in meaningful message. Cape Town. The objective of the visit was to create a platform for the fenceline communities to share We bolstered our preparations with the presence of their experiences about the impact of coal on their Dr. Mike Holland from England, an expert on issues health and the environment they are living in and of air pollution and health problems caused by coal. also plead for the different portfolio committee The presentations by Elana from the Waterberg, members to intervene. The plea was a clear cry for Billy from Fuleni, Bongani from Somkele and the protection of the environmental right provided Felcian from Emalahleni captured the hearts of by section 24 of our South African Constitution. the portfolio committees and inspired meaningful Most of these communities are living in the areas discussions. They felt that it was very educational inundated by coal mines and coal-fired power and informative and that the situation calls for stations. Their lives are characterized by various urgent intervention. They also recognized that challenges from coal infrastructures causing them the discussion is very relevant to other portfolio to get sick, be forcefully removed, and live without committees who were not present in the house. water or with polluted water. Some live in the The committee members suggested that this areas that the Department of Environmental Affairs discussion needed to come to the attention of declared priority areas because of the amount of other portfolio committees and that, in order for pollution caused by various industries, mostly us to strategically secure their presence, we need coal. Despite the declaration by the department, to address our invitation letter to the speaker of the government is still giving licenses for more the parliament so that she can issue directives for industries to start operating in the areas, instead them to attend. The suggestion was in recognition of implementing measures to reduce the pollution of the fact that it was important that other relevant that is already killing people – allowing industries committees are present so that a collective decision to make profit at the expense of the lives and the can be taken to help these affected communities. health of poor and defenceless people. It was pleasant and rewarding to realize that they After an intensive effort to secure the attendance did not take the discussion lightly but instead felt of at least six portfolio committees – the portfolio the cry of the affected communities. The coming committees on Health, Environmental Affairs, together of the coal-affected communities and Energy, Economic Development, Agriculture being able to speak to the parliamentarians has and Fisheries, Mineral Resources and Water and strengthen solidarity in their struggle.

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The rich profit – the poor suffer

by Ludwig Bengtsson Sonesson

“It makes no sense to invest in companies that undermine our future. To serve as custodians of creation is not an empty title; it requires that we act, and with all the urgency this dire situation demands.” – Desmond Tutu

Mvuzo Nhombela, member of South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, picketing outside Sasol during groundWork’s Climate Learning Group meeting. Credit: Ludwig Bengtsson Sonesson.

It’s an old truth that whenever foreign entities invest to tout themselves as champions of sustainability in Africa, the profits leave the continent. A 2017 while still investing in dirty industries. report found that, while $162 billion enters the My place of birth, Sweden, has a long tradition of continent through loans, aid and remittances, $203 funding development work – in fact, groundWork billion leaves through corporate tax loopholes, debt even receives funding from the Swedish government: interest and illegal resource extraction. That’s a net funding that allows us to, among other things, loss of $41 billion Rand. These figures tell a story support communities fighting coal and air pollution. of neo-colonialism, abusive trade rules, the false However, in a stroke of true irony, the very same promise of sustainable development and a sense of government is heavily invested in some of the worst moral superiority which permits developed nations

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polluters in South Africa through its pension funds. corporation whose primary business is turning In total, they have invested almost 7 billion Rand coal into liquid fuel. Sasol’s record of polluting our across Glencore, Exxaro, Sasol, Rio Tinto, South32 environment and damaging the health of South and Anglo – all companies listed by the CoalExit Africans is discussed in the two latest groundWork database as coal producers in South Africa. They reports, but to summarise: it’s shit. As I stood there are also invested in Marubeni and KEPCO, the two outside of Sasol, I felt ashamed. Ashamed that the companies that were set to build Thabametsi power place that I call home puts profit before people’s station together with Exxaro – a decision that was health. Ashamed that I, whether I like it or not, challenged by groundWork’s partners Earthlife will benefit from Sasol. Ashamed that at this very Africa and Centre for Environmental Rights in court moment, my minister of finance (a member of the for not considering the project’s climate impacts. In Swedish Green Party) is at Cop23, bragging about the coal war, Sweden is funding both sides – and how Sweden’s work on sustainability is number should be held accountable. one! The situation has not gone unopposed. A massive I find solace in that the global divestment movement civil society campaign forced the minister to put is alive and breathing. The saying “hit them where forward legislation that instructs the pension it hurts most: their wallet” still holds true and some funds to be “responsible investors” and “promote landmark achievements have been made. The sustainable development”. However, this is to be Norwegian Pension Fund divested from all its coal done without impacting the over-arching goal of assets in 2015 and the Lutheran World Federation maximising profits and still does not force the funds as well as the Council of Churches have rid their to comply with Sweden’s international agreements. assets of fossil fuels entirely. Through 350.org and This goes against article 2.1(c) in the Paris the Fossil Free Campaign, 808 institutions with a agreement, which binds its signatories to “make its combined capital of $5.57 trillion have pledged to finance flows consistent with a pathway towards divest. However, it’s not all rainbows and unicorns. low greenhouse gas emissions”. But alas, in the The reason a lot of institutions are divesting is that current global economic climate, suggesting that fossil fuels are simply too risky as more and more profits should be subordinate to human rights and governments work to phase them out. And, while environmental protection is tantamount to treason. that’s great for climate change, the risk is that capital moves to the next industry where externalities are And the sad truth is that the people who benefit not priced and profits plentiful. Maybe it’s palm from these investments, the Swedes, are out of oil? Or maybe lithium mining? That’s why it’s reach of the direct effects of the coal industry. They essential for activists to work towards mandatory will not breathe the polluted air from Medupi, a frameworks within which funds can invest. massive coal-fired power station being built in Limpopo with funding from the World Bank (a In closing, let’s look back at the 80s. The most decision to which Sweden voted yes in 2010). successful global divestment campaign to date was They will not drink water polluted by acid mine the one directed at the apartheid regime. Following drainage from an Exxaro or Glencore mine. They massive protests all over the world, sanctions were will not be one of the 2 239 South Africans who die put on South African companies: between 1985 prematurely every year at the hands of dirty coal and 1988, R23,9 billion was withdrawn from the pollution. Climate change will hit them too, but country. Some say that this was one of the things not before millions, if not billions, of people in the that forced the regime to the negotiating table. global south are affected. This question is one of What we need now is the same level of global justice – why should the people in Sasolburg and outcry against fossil fuels as against apartheid. Secunda suffer so that Bertil, 68, can buy one extra We need to make it not financially viable for any item at IKEA? company to explore, extract or burn fossil fuels. By divesting, we are investing in a future for our As an intern at groundWork, I participated in a children – the soundest investment there is. picket at the main gates of Sasol – a South African

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CLG gets new energy!

by Samuel Chademana

The Climate Learning Group (CLG) aims to inform activists and equip them with requisite skills

One of my core tasks as the Climate and Energy This year we brought together twenty-six climate Justice campaigner is to work with and learn from change activists from our partner frontline community people. The Climate Learning Group communities and the aim of our meeting was (CLG) is a space for learning for myself and the to strengthen the climate action and develop a community. This year’s CLG meeting was held preliminary draft for collective climate action. As from the 17th to the 19th of October in the Vaal part of the programme, we conducted a solidarity Triangle’s Vanderbijlpark. The three-day learning climate change tour of communities affected platform was co-hosted by groundWork and its by flooding and subsistence farmers affected partner organization, the Vaal Environmental by droughts in the last farming season; we also Alliance (VEJA). In essence, the CLG was created visited a community renewable energy project and to stimulate joint learning, local climate debate and protested outside South Africa’s biggest corporate action by fenceline communities by way of regular greenhouse gas emitter, Sasol, to show solidarity climate dialogue platforms. The platforms are also with the Friends of the Earth International Day of aimed at informing and equipping activists with the Action to Reclaim Power. The protest was disrupted necessary skills so as to effectively engage with local by the police but had an awesome response from climate campaigning and politics in the context both passersby and Sasol employees. of understanding the national and international Till 2018, aluta continua! positions.

CLG participants picket outside Sasol Refinery during the Climate Justice and Energy Global Day of action carried out by Friends of the Earth members all over the world Credit: Ludwig Bengtsson Sonesson.

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An act of dispossession

by Samuel Chademana

The issue of fracking needs to be placed in the context of economic development, social justice, environmental justice and land transformation

In recent years there has been an increasing interest Linked to this are the broad statements made by in oil and gas production in South Africa. It is those with an interest in fracking, proclaiming the promoted by both corporate and political leaders as employment and financial benefits of fracking/ a cheaper source of energy when compared to coal gas extraction as a development plan and trying and coal-fired power plants. At the centre of this to hide the fact that it is an extractive plan. These interest in local gas production is the controversial are substantiated by impressive statistics and technology known as “hydraulic fracturing” percentages aimed at currying favour with those or “fracking” that is used for the extraction of desperate for social and economic opportunities. unconventional gas from underground rock These statistics are inflated for financial gain. formations called the shale layer, and from coal A recent study by Professor Michiel de Kock, seams. head of the research team from the University of Johannesburg, clearly indicates that the United This technology and its negative impacts are States Department of Energy’s 2011 published well documented in the US and globally, but report grossly overestimated the Karoo basin’s unfortunately not everyone knows much about recoverable reserves at 485 tcf (trillion cubic feet). this technology, particularly in South Africa. The This report touted South Africa as having the fourth term “fracking” has become the catalyst for many largest shale gas reserves in the world when actually heated debates involving environmental justice the Karoo’s real reserves are thirty times less, at a organizations, farmland owners and agrarian meagre 13 tcf. communities comprised of farm dwellers and workers, pitched against prospecting oil and gas While the above discourse has to be allowed a place companies and state institutions charged with the in the broader fracking debate, it is something that responsibility of overseeing the development mineral environmental justice and land rights organizations and petroleum resources in the country. What such as groundWork, Church Land Programme was once a word used to describe a controversial (CLP), Association For Rural Advancement (AFRA), and dirty technology used to extract gas, fracking Support Centre for Land Change (SCLC) and is now subject to political framing and is imbued FrackFree South Africa cannot accept, because with economic opportunism and social animosity it’s mostly misleading: the truth is fracking won’t towards those against the technology. There has produce the promised jobs. Instead, a few powerful been a deliberate misappropriation of the term, by people will benefit at the expense of the majority both state institutions and oil and gas companies, in poor. order to continue to confuse people on the ground According to the Karoo Strategic Environmental about the practical realities of what gas extraction Assessment report, commissioned by the would look like. An information blackout has also Department of Environmental Affairs to assess the been perpetuated in order to minimize opposition viability and feasibility of fracking in the Karoo, from interested and affected parties. there is major uncertainty regarding the nature

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and quantities of shale gas resources. Furthermore, were not effectively consulted and informed on the risk potential for water, air and biodiversity the true nature of this development. In fact, they contamination, including adverse effects on other were not even given an opportunity to register sectors, even with effective implementation of as interested and affected parties (I&APs). The mitigation and best practice principles, range applicants for exploration rights through their from low to moderate for exploration only, and appointed EIA practitioners did not take adequate overall moderate to high for the small and big gas measures to ensure that all I&APs were contacted. extraction scenarios. While efforts were made to contact the white land owners (farmers), no deliberate effort was made Fracking poses a threat to our already scarce water by the applicant to effectively engage with farm resources and threatens the very continuity of dwellers and labour tenants. By virtue of them not livelihoods such as farming – both traditional and being land owners now, the applicant did not see commercial – and tourism. Furthermore, in the fit to address their concerns and needs effectively. context of South Africa’s socio-economic history, Indeed, the marginalization and exclusion of fracking threatens land restitution and agrarian previously disadvantaged communities continues reforms currently underway in the country. If allowed post-1994. to proceed, it will destroy the very land meant for the previously disadvantaged communities, thus After a couple of meetings with these communities, perpetuating the culture of dispossession – only we became accustomed to light bulb moments this time around under the tyranny of oil and gas followed by a deep sense of despondence and companies. betrayal directed at the government. Communities could not comprehend how a black government Consequently, people will have to be informed could do this to its own people: sacrificing their of the dangers of fracking, as their constitutional dreams and aspirations at the altars of profits and rights demand, and the issue of fracking needs to self-enrichment. We were inundated with questions be placed in the context of economic development, on how this madness could be stopped; whether social justice, environmental justice and land there was any legal recourse or pushback strategies transformation. The real truth about fracking will that they could get involved in. need to be presented to affected communities in a way that gets this complex message across and Some community members were sceptical, and enables them to make informed decisions in their rightfully so, of our campaign and its likelihood respective communities and will inform them of the of succeeding, bearing in mind that it is the consequences of damaging the land: the same land government that is allowing fracking to proceed that people need returned to them. unabated. In the words of one of the community members: “I don’t think there is anything we can Since June 2017, and in collaboration with the do, as a community, to stop this fracking if this Church Land Programme (CLP), groundWork has government wants it. They always get what they been in consultation with farm-dweller and labour want.”. tenant communities in the farmlands of northern KwaZulu-Natal around the towns of Utrecht, I took these words each time I heard them as a Newcastle, Danhausser, Dundee and Vryheid. One clarion call to battle but at the same time a cry for emergent issue from these many meetings and help from a people disillusioned by years of false discussions is that these communities, comprised promises to the point where they have lost their of the groupings mentioned above, which include own self-belief and agency. land restitution applicants, have been overlooked, Our work is cut out for us, to entrench activism have not been consulted and did not have any prior where it still exists and rebuild it where it has been knowledge of the fracking applications on their lost, bearing in mind, of course, that this is going to doorsteps, let alone what fracking is. be a long, protracted struggle. Based on our interaction with these affected Mayibuye umhlaba wethu! communities, it became apparent that the whole EIA process prejudiced them by the fact that they

- Vol 19 No 4 - December 2017 - groundWork - 13 - Greenfly

Plastic is forever

by Greenfly

Never mind diamonds. Flowering plastic blooms in “Industry 4.0”. That’s the bots that can act bright greens, yellows, reds and blues on thorn trees autonomously and will be coming for your job and razor wire and brightens the veld with flecks of soon. In the smart factory, at the smart shop colour. At the land’s edge it makes for a merry sight automatically linked to the smart bank, on the smart on the beach. Not just your endless golden sands farm, in the smart office and driving the smart Uber but a bright array of bags, buckets, tubs, bottles, car. There’ll even be smart lawyers. And perhaps, bottle tops, lids, labels, pipes, wrappers, rings, slops, as the smart world requires, smart satirists. All done crocs, crates, chairs, baskets, bracelets, cups, trays with algorithms and plastic. and car bumpers. We even have the beach pebbled Alongside talk of nanomaterials and 3D printing, plastic with brand new nurdles and bright sea- comes the question: Plastics Recycling – can tumbled fragments. Just like the paradise islands of it rescue the image of plastics? Presumably a the Pacific garbage patch. And every bit is forever. question for the PR people. Sixty odd years ago, And that’s not all. You won’t see the micro-fibres at the dawn of the age of plastic, industry bosses washed out by the million from fleece jackets and saw their future growing on the rubbish dump. blankets or other synthetic threads. They are too So the PR people taught the consumer to throw it small to be caught in washing machine filters but away. (The consumer, note, is a strange entity, both not too big for filter feeders in rivers and rock pools. singular and plural, individual and social function.) As the plastic piled higher, the PR people pointed The more plastic blows on the wind and washes at the consumer: “Plastics don’t litter, people do.” down streams, the greener the industry. Recycling That slogan looks tatty as a torn condom but they is on the front page of every plastics website. can’t let it go. So the PR people have added that Plastics South Africa is on message: Safe. Reusable. the industry is leading the consumer to the green Recyclable. The South African Plastic Recycling revolution. Organization is ahead of the movement: Join the green revolution. Petco is on trend: #Do1thing. Growth is still the core value. Plastics South Africa Recycle. Polyco gets practical with humour: Learn “strives” to influence role-players and make how to recycle at home. With SuzelleDIY. The plastics the material of choice. Recycling is much Polystyrene Association plays it straight: passionate advertised and industry figures show a big increase. about recycling and the environment. And lest the But the manufacture of “virgin” plastic has grown kids get bored, there are competitions and games: even more. So there’s still more that goes to Let’s do it! Africa. Let’s clean up and recycle! Play landfill. Oddly, industry figures all balance: What’s the game and become a Planet Pal. manufactured minus what’s recycled equals what goes to the dump. The calamity of plastic on the Down in Stellenbosch, meanwhile, Plastics South beach is disappeared. Africa, the Plastics Institute of Southern Africa and their academic “partners” are celebrating plastic Recycling, as they tell us, saves lots of carbon at the Annual International Conference and Golf emissions. That’s because the energy that goes Day. Golf, of course, is a water intensive business. into making a litre plastic bottle is equal to about But with the Davos class plastics division flying in, a quarter litre of oil. So the millions of extra bottles recreational standards are as high as the Western on the dump and in the sea equals lots more Cape dams are low. And now is always the right carbon emissions that are not saved. The plastics time to demonstrate who controls resources. people met in Stellenbosch at the same time as the polluters met to negotiate the climate away at The conference is on the Davos theme of the CoP23 in Bonn. Of that, we say nothing. 4th industrial revolution. Or, in hip tech guy talk,

- 14 - groundWork - Vol 19 No 4 - December 2017 - Environmental Health

How did we get to be eating plastic?

By Rico Euripidou

At our recent Africa-wide #BreakFreeFromPlastic plankton, illustrating how the material is entering gathering we heard from some local scientists who into the marine food chain. Once it enters an painted a bleak picture of plastics in the Indian organism, it will bio-accumulate as larger species Ocean and in particular about how plastics are consume smaller ones. Because millions of tonnes bio-accumulating in our local food web. The food of plastic “disappear” from the world’s waste web is the entirety of interrelated food chains in stream each year, a large percentage of this plastic an ecological community, so this includes the food pollution will end up in the form of micro-plastics that we eat! Worryingly, micro plastics are now – either found as broken plastic fragments from a ubiquitous pollutant in all the oceans around larger plastic goods or as microscopic objects such the world, and pose a serious potential threat to as microbeads from cosmetic products (including marine ecology. In particular, the facts following face wash and shower gel). Scientists have now also were presented, which I thought merited further demonstrated that zooplankton ingest microbeads. research to inform our work. The United Nations estimates that about 51 trillion Steve Cohen from the Durban Partnership against particles of micro plastic are in the world’s seas and Plastic Pollution described a “plastic ocean” around oceans. Durban in which 70% of the Mullet fish species Do these plastics pose a significant threat to surveyed in Durban contained micro-plastics, most human health as they are passed up the food worryingly in their brains (UKZN Mace Lab). We chain? also heard that 77% of Maasbankerfish species Plastics are synthetic chemicals, primarily made (mainly horse mackerel) sampled from the Durban from petro-chemicals. They have, however, been Harbour, Vetch’s Pier, Isipingo and the uMngeni commonly found to contain lead, cadmium and and Mdloti river mouths contained tiny plastic mercury that are toxic to humans and these toxins fibres, fragments and beads in their tissues and have already been found in fish in the ocean. organs. The team that undertook this research also Mercury is particularly problematic because in the found that these fish contained micro plastic fibres, marine environment it can transform from inorganic irrespective of their size, at Vetch’s Pier and also in mercury to organic methyl-mercury which has long Durban (UKZN School of Life Sciences). been known to bio-accumulate up the food chain. So why is this especially significant? Maasbankerfish Some plastics also contain phthalates added to species are a good indicator fish species to research soften the plastic, which is now known to be a in order to determine bio-accumulation of plastics carcinogen. Many other toxins in plastics are also in the food web because they appear at the bottom directly linked to cancers, birth defects, immune of the food chain in our local ecosystem. Any larger system problems and childhood developmental fish species that will rely on these fish as food will issues. Plastics sometimes also act like sponges and therefore bio-accumulate all the impurities and soak up other toxins that might be floating in the toxins, including plastics, from this species. ocean and carry them through the food chain as So how exactly did plastic get into the food web? well. Scientists studying the impact of plastic waste on Once these micro plastics are in the digestive the marine environment have previously found tiny tracts of the animals that have ingested them, the pieces of plastic inside the guts of zooplankton – chemicals present in the micro plastics begin to the microscopic creatures that many sea species “leach out” and begin to enter the tissues of these feed on. A scientist has recently even filmed the animals. Subsequently they have the potential to exact moment a plastic micro fibre is ingested by contaminate the systems of larger animals that

- Vol 19 No 4 - December 2017 - groundWork - 15 - Environmental Health

consume those organisms. In essence, we humans and also disrupt the normal function of thyroid will end up eating our own plastic waste! hormones, which serve to regulate growth and development, and to maintain homeostasis (for Looking at the effects of plastic environmental healthy overall body function). pollution: here are some striking statistics: • Over two thirds of the world’s fish stocks have Bisphenol A (BPA) is used in the manufacture plastic in their bodies: www.oceancrusaders. of clear, hard plastics and is found in a variety org. of everyday products such as medical devices, dental sealants, compact discs, water bottles and • According to Greenpeace, 80% of sea bird the lining of food cans. However, BPA mimics the populations have ingested plastic. female hormone oestrogen, disrupting hormone • Plastic debris kills 100 000 marine mammals balance and function in the body. The effects of annually, as well as millions of birds and fish this disruption interfere with the body’s overall (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric development and the development of major body Administration). systems like the reproductive system. BPA was common in baby bottles, sippy cups, baby formula • More than one in ten species that have fallen cans and other products for babies and young victim to plastic marine debris are threatened children, until controversy arose regarding its with extinction (2014 Marine Pollution suspected health effects. Bulletin). Similarly styrene, a classified carcinogen, is a • Microbeads, which are microscopic plastic common component of polystyrene, widely used particles that resemble fish eggs, are routinely to make both plastics and rubber, and is found in found in the stomachs of numerous sea packaging materials, drinking cups and fast-food creatures, including marine mammals, reptiles, containers, as well as in common electrical wiring jellyfish, fish and birds (http://plastic-pollution. and appliances in our homes. org/). Conclusions Some substances of particular concern The scientific evidence shows that plastics are Plastic is invariably made up of different compounds everywhere in our oceans and their constituents, depending on its intended use. For example the even in low concentrations, have the potential to chemicals added to plastic flip flops (Phthalates) is cause adverse health impacts. The combined health intended to make the plastic soft and less brittle. effects from exposure to plastic substances over a These additives have, however, serious unintended period of time may have adverse effects such as and sometimes irreversible negative effects for causing cancer, inducing mutations in organisms humans, other organisms and the environment or, particularly in the case of “phthalates”, causing after exposure to them – either individually or endocrine disruption resulting in health problems combined. These “phthalates” are also commonly such as diabetes and obesity. used in the manufacture of plastics for a wide range of products, including medical devices such as IV Plastics are made from fossil fuels. As the world tubes, food packaging, car upholstery… and so pushes back on fossil fuels because of climate the list goes on. The phthalate DEHP is classified change, we have two possibilities regarding plastic. as toxic to reproduction and can harm the unborn As there is pressure to stop fossil fuels, much of the child. People are exposed to phthalates from the fossil fuel could end up as plastic. Or alternatively, foetal stage and throughout the rest of our lives, the coincidental benefit is going to be the squeeze via the food we eat, the air we breathe and through on fossil fuels means a squeeze on plastic. What direct skin contact. option are we going to choose? Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether (PBDE) is added to plastics as a flame retardant. However, it has been shown to counteract the effects of male hormones

- 16 - groundWork - Vol 19 No 4 - December 2017 - Environmental Health

Dotting the i and crossing the t in intern

By Zinzile Sibanda

An internship in groundWork is an eye-opening experience

My experience at groundwork has been, in a of the South African people rises to the fore and the nutshell, eye-opening. One cannot help but become effects of environmental imbalance become almost sensitised to the various environmental injustices instantaneously clear. that plague South African communities on a daily Upon beginning my internship with groundwork, basis. From the Waste Pickers’ Association that I was tasked with conducting several research lobbies for formal recognition and better working studies. One of them involved working with conditions, to the communities in the Highveld the internationally renowned Human Rights pushing back against the extraction of coal a stone’s Watch, and providing information on the kind of throw away from their residential homes, the plight The groundWork Team during their strategic planning session. Credit: groundWork

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resistance and intimidation that was experienced identified and linked to mercury exposure. This is by environmental human rights activists in the shown in some of the old medical reports that were protesting processes, more particularly within the conducted on the workers, including one or two extractive industry. Given the massive amounts of post mortems that made the causal link between work that have already been done in South Africa the cause of death to mercury contamination and regarding the extractive industry, especially coal exposure. mining, this aspect of the research was put together Whether Thor will receive some form of with relative ease as it was fairly straight-forward environmental justice is uncertain at this point, and uncomplicated to access the relevant material. though it is important to reiterate that the passing of This “i” was dotted, and the “t” crossed. two decades has been instrumental in the failure to In contrast to the smooth sailing research on the reach some kind of resolution for the environmental extractive industry, the second one proved more and worker/ labour situation of Thor to date. These challenging. It involved the mercury clean up at i’s and t’s have not been dotted or crossed Guernica Chemicals(previously known as Thor Looking from a birds eye view, one may be able Chemicals), in Cato Ridge, KZN. The reason for to draw several inferences from these major the challenge was the amount of time that had assignments: passed since the commission of enquiry report on the then Thor Chemicals was made. About twenty • Firstly, in the fight for environmental justice, the years had elapsed and still ex-workers seek justice noisemakers are often critical to the process, from government and the company. The waste still and time is a major factor; remains on site, instead of going back to where it • Secondly, the importance of environmental came from, and the site remains a toxic nightmare. CSOs as intermediary organizations that Sadly over the years much information has fallen by bridge the gap between communities and state the wayside. Save for evidence of communication departments, is highlighted. NGOs such as with government departments and twenty-year- groundWork are often the noisemakers, with old medical reports, there has not been much else the aim of passing the loudspeakers into the on the horizon in support of ex Thor workers and hands of the communities; and the surrounding community. • Thirdly, there still exists a jaded mind set among Of interest is that, upon conducting further research, some communities regarding the position of it was shown that ex Thor workers who had been environmental health in their hierarchy of found with mercury in their blood streams, and importance. who hadn’t received any form of compensation for the damage, and hadn’t been able to work since Given the contrast between both pieces of research, the closing of Thor Chemicals, largely prioritized it can safely be assumed that we win some, and worker justice issues, alongside those issues relating with the others, we carry on forging forward. Some to unemployment, as well as their health and well of the i’s were dotted, and some of the t’s were being. It is also noteworthy to highlight that, while crossed – but more groundwork needs to be done. those workers whose mercury levels were above There still exist some significant gaps that need to the threshold received monetary compensation, be filled until they over flow, and until the narratives those whose mercury levels fell below the threshold change, and the perceptions of the communities were not given any form of compensation although are re-shaped to reflect an impeccable regard for the effects of that mercury contamination in environmental health and well being. their health and well-being could be undeniably

- 18 - groundWork - Vol 19 No 4 - December 2017 - Environmental Health

Environmental crimes: the real heroes

By Ludovica Serafini “You are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody” (Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1754)

When I applied for a three-month internship with I was improving myself purely from a theoretical groundWork, I did not know exactly what to point of view, without really touching and feeling expect. I just knew what I was going to do: field the topics I was studying, without implementing research about environmental crimes. concretely the theories that for several years I just read in the books. This lack of concreteness led me Finishing my Master Degree in criminology at the to look for a new adventure that could break the University of Bologna, in Italy, I had the incredible bubble I was used to living in; a new challenge that opportunities to study abroad several times in could tear down the vision of that world shaped and different universities. Surely awesome experiences inculcated essentially by the western consumption that led me to face new challenges, to meet new society. And here I am. On the other side of the people, to learn from other cultures, and to achieve equator. In South Africa. excellent results within the academic field. Some of you could be wondering why I chose This, however, was the main problem: I was studying South Africa. Especially, what could the connection hard to pass every exam brilliantly, but whenever between South Africa and environmental crimes the overseas experience was over, and I had to be? Firstly, we need to better understand what go back to Italy again, I did not feel completely the concept of environmental crime means. As satisfied with myself. The reason for this was that Cohen suggested in 1996, environmental crime is

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“the most serious crime that humanity is currently other social factors, increase the likelihood that an committing against itself and its future generation”. individual will commit a crime” (Masters, 2007). Hence, it involves the strong relationship between The second aim of my research is to analyse the the physical and natural environment, and its social perceptions and attitudes of those people inhabitants; a relationship that unfortunately we who live in such a polluted and offensive reality. have forgotten, taking it for granted. Examples How do they shape their lives living so close to the of environmental crimes are air pollution, disposal factories, and smelling every day “rotten egg and of toxic/hazardous waste, oil spills, acid rain, oil-like odours”, as they describe it? Unfortunately, habitat destruction, and so on. Crimes committed the answer that the majority of the South Durban against the natural environment and its population residents I have interviewed give is: “You just have by unregulated power, corporate misconduct, to get used to this”. organized crime, and weak governments. Crimes that lead to environmental injustices, affecting Thanks to groundWork and SDCEA’s support, I am poor communities that have to suffer “the effects finally feeling part of something. I am finally “in of environmental damage caused by the greed of the field”, implementing what I’ve learnt until now. others. This includes workers and communities Being in South Africa is one of the biggest challenges exposed to dangerous chemical pollution, and I have ever faced, with its difficulties as well as rural communities without firewood, grazing, and satisfactions. Being involved in the South Durban water” (EJFN, 1997). community, learning from the residents how they South Africa is, among other countries, the best are surviving, smelling the same terrible odour of example of environmental injustice, especially benzene, feeling dizzy and coming back home with during the apartheid years, when Black, Indian a headache, hearing in person the asthma and the and Coloured people were forcibly removed from respiratory problems that most of the people have their ancestral land, without any consultation or when they talk to me, seeing how children are compensation, to small rural and industrial areas, trapped in that environment even without losing where overpopulation, poverty and a lack of basic their smiles and their joy in playing around with the services inevitably led to widespread environmental chimneys as landscape... degradation. All that I have written above reinforces my This is still visible in the area I am researching: the determination to improve my research every day. south Durban Basin, the largest toxic cancer hotspot It is already giving very positive results and, more of South Africa, wherein powerless residents “are importantly, it is revealing who the real heroes of like animals involved in a biological experiment” the environmental injustice are: not the factories, (Albrecht, 2012) run by polluting industries, sewage not the governments, not the corporations, but the plants and numerous toxic waste landfill sites. local people, whose lives are going on, no matter what, or who. This pathetic reality is therefore the key point of my whole university project, which focuses Thanks, heroes. on two elements. The first is to investigate the possibility that air pollution has an adverse effect Ludovica on people’s behaviour, which results in an increase Serafini, student at Studiorum of aggression, impulsiveness and irritability, as Bologna well as a decrease of self-control. Several studies University, have already proved it, showing that not only “air interned with pollution components reach the brain, inducing groundWork while she inflammations and damage” (Block & Calderòn- collated Garciduenas, 2009), but also environmental information stressors, “in addition to poverty, social stress, for her alcohol or drug abuse, individual character, and Environmental Justice-themed master’s thesis.

- 20 - groundWork - Vol 19 No 4 - December 2017 - Environmental Health

Plastics in the healthcare industry

By Luqman Yesufu

To phase out plastics in the healthcare industry, or not to phase out plastics in the healthcare industry: that is the question

Plastics have innumerable ways of benefitting However, the majority of this plastic, which is often society and are very much apparent in medicine and of a high quality, is still either incinerated due to public health. They are known to be cost effective the legislation or disposed of in landfill along with and, most importantly, they can be adaptable to other municipal waste; and therein lies the problem. many different functions or activities. Due to this The reuse of plastics is not encouraged and rather characteristic, the healthcare industry finds them prevented because of the perception that, since it’s very useful in diverse health applications, such as coming from a health institution, it must contain disposable syringes and intravenous bags, sterile germs. This in turn prevents most people from packaging for medical instruments as well as in trying to use or re-use it. joint replacements, tissue engineering, and so on. According to our healthcare waste regulation in However, not all uses of plastics are smart and South Africa, incineration of medical waste is still sustainable and thus the recent public focus on allowed for several categories of streams that often plastics has centred mostly on human health and contain plastics, either as part of the material or as environmental concerns, including endocrine- a container for the material. The problem, however, disrupting properties and long-term pollution is that incineration is not a waste treatment method arising from the large quantities of plastic being but rather a waste conversion method, as the waste disposed of, and depletion of non-renewable is only converted to another form – gases and ash petroleum resources as a result of ever increasing – which are very toxic when one is exposed to it. mass-production of plastic consumer items. So we The incineration process produces two types of are at a cross-roads in society: do we continue with ash which are bottom ash, which comes from the plastics or do we start phasing them out? I am not furnace and is mixed with slag, and fly ash, which going to seek to challenge this, but want to start comes from the stack and contains components that highlighting this dilemma. are more hazardous. Emissions from incinerators In South Africa, our Global Green and Healthy can include heavy metals, dioxins and furans, Hospital (GGHH) members are facing the challenge which are cancerous and harmful to population of having to deal with plastic waste without health. Plastic and metals are the major source of causing enormous harm to the environment and the calorific value of the waste. The combustion of health. The baseline assessment conducted for plastics like polyvinyl chloride (PVC) gives rise to our GGHH revealed that there has been a steady these highly toxic pollutants. increase in the plastics used in these hospitals, The good news is that environmentally friendly especially in the hospitals engaged in recycling. waste treatment alternatives are already in the With regards to recycling, significant amounts of country, which are also cost effective with regards money have been generated by GGHH member to how plastic waste is managed in the healthcare hospitals. For example, Victoria Hospital have industry. In South Africa, we currently have two generated over R2 000 from recycling projects per alternative healthcare waste treatment technologies month, and an annual saving of about R19 200. being piloted in the Western Cape and Limpopo.

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Both treatment technologies apply the principle of Quotes from participants mechanically heating the waste directly from inside “The general experience of last week’s waste by means of the friction generated by material exchange program was that it was very breaks, obtained by a powerful rotary blade. After informative and eye opening. I especially enjoyed thirty minutes, the final product is reduced in learning about the logistical aspects of Health weight and volume. It is also totally dry and safe, Care Risk Waste (HCRW) at Steve Biko Academic making it suitable for disposal in a domestic landfill Hospital, including the storage and record site. There are also no emissions as the fumes and keeping of HCRW consumables: sharps, boxes condensate are extracted from the treatment cell and. My “aha” moment was at Polokwane, and filtered. Therefore, there is an urgent need for at the Buhle Medical Waste Treatment Plant. hospitals, especially in Africa, to shift the status quo I was highly impressed with the Buhle plant of how things are done with regards to healthcare in Polokwane. It was great to learn about the waste management and these health facilities need evaporation and condensation of water from to be aware of where their waste goes to once it the waste, which is then treated before being leaves the hospital premises, and what happens to distributed by the municipality, especially given it. that climate change is having major effects on To achieve this, groundWork – Health Care Without potable water supply.” Melana de Beer, Chief Harm’s strategic partner in the region – and the Food Service manager at Khayelitsha Hospital. Gauteng Directorate of Health Care Waste and “I have gained so much knowledge from the Occupational Hygiene Risk Management hosted a GGHH waste exchange. I learned a great deal from two-day waste exchange programme from the 23rd colleagues who also participated, particularly in to the 24th of October 2017. Twenty-five delegates the areas of auditing, recording and monitoring from four provinces in the country – Gauteng, of waste generated in your hospital. I was also Free State, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal – fascinated by the bio-digestion presentation and attended the event, which was aimed at learning how placentas can be used to generate gas. It and sharing best available practices with regards showed that nothing can really be categorized to managing health care waste. We visited a Buhle as waste just yet. At the Polokwane Treatment waste treatment plant in Polokwane to observe plant, it was good to see where all of the waste the alternative method called the “converter” in generated from our facility ends up and that it action. The equipment can be installed on site at has been treated in an environmentally friendly a hospital facility and has the ability to process manner.” Zama Cele, Environmental Health 200 kilograms of waste per hour. The advantages Practitioner at Bertha Gxowa Hospital. of this treatment process are numerous. I was particularly impressed by the fact that it uses little “I found the exchange program to be a water, which can anyway be re-used, produces no valuable learning experience. It was inspiring emissions whatsoever, and the waste product after to witness the convertor at the Buhle Waste treatment is reduced in volume and rendered totally Plant in Limpopo. I was encouraged to know harmless. One negative is that the by-products that we as a country do possess the technology from this waste treatment plant still go to the needed to convert and sterilize medical waste. hazardous waste landfill, because this is dictated by If only this technology would become the government legislation in South Africa. standard practice throughout the country, what a significant dent we would make with regards Overall, the GGHH waste exchange for 2017 was to preventing further harm to our land. I felt a huge success, as GGHH champions learned a inspired and motivated in knowing that Grey’s significant amount on this topic, which they will Hospital is not alone in this pursuit for change take back to their various hospitals and colleagues. and there are others in other provinces that are With the promotion and utilization of this waste also persevering in this pursuit.” Shireen Arends, treatment technology, the issue around plastic Quality Assurance Manager at Greys Hospital in pollution from the healthcare industry might KwaZulu Natal. become a thing of the past… who knows?

- 22 - groundWork - Vol 19 No 4 - December 2017 - Media, Information and Publications

Small ways to #BreakFreeFromPlastic By Nombulelo Shange

Ten years ago I embarked on a hair journey that saw for raising the issues but for not offering adequate me significantly reduce the amount of hair products alternatives. Many people go on believing that there and plastic I use and waste. This journey started are no solutions, which is a big mistake. When we with a not-so-well-thought-out decision to cut my are critical of Eskom, we don’t mean that the lights very long beautiful, flowing and silky hair. I cut it must go out and we must all do without electricity. all off and remained completely bald. I decided to We recommend renewable options instead, like go all natural, embracing all the kinks, knots and biogas, solar and wind energy. When we put chaos that comes with rocking an afro and, later pressure on municipalities to reject incineration, on, dreadlocks. we don’t mean that they must let the waste issues grow and turn into bigger challenges. Instead, we My afro grew very long very quickly. I had made encourage waste reduction, reuse and recycling, the big mistake of assuming I could use the same and also prioritize income-generating waste products on my afro as those I used on my relaxed solutions like the formation of the South African hair. Ask any black woman, their crown (hair) Waste Pickers’ Association. SAWPA members have is their most prized possession. It’s also the most managed to create livelihoods for themselves by expensive and most challenging to maintain. I forming recycling cooperatives. Single father Andile noticed that many hair products I used claimed Zondi, who works at New England Landfill site in to have natural ingredients like coconut, olive oil, Pietermaritzburg, supports his two daughters and avocado, egg and lemon extract. I told myself has ensured through recycling that they will receive I would try using avocado and all these other quality education. ingredients to shampoo, condition and moisturize my massive, untameable mane. I started to blend We all stand to gain financially in the way that I coconut oil, bananas, avocados, eggs and just did, and in the way the many waste pickers do, if about every vegetable in my fridge. My bi-weekly we find ways to recycle and reduce our plastic use. ritual consisted of smearing the concoction on my And what’s more, the planet with thank us for it. hair, sitting with it on for half the day and then washing it off with water and apple cider vinegar Crushed plastic and then finally moisturizing with cooking oils like bottles ready to be cycled, image olive oil or coconut oil. I quickly realized that I was shot at Mooi saving a lot of money, about R200 a month. I’m River Landfill sure the savings would be much higher today. I also Site. realized that I was buying fewer products packaged Credit: in plastic so I was unintentionally saving the groundWork environment by using things that are in my kitchen anyway. I later applied this strategy to my other grooming practices, like ditching sanitary towels for the reusable moon cup, and making my own roll on and lotions with ingredients most people have in their kitchen. From this, I save roughly R150 a month. The point I am making with my hair journey story is that there are solutions to the waste and other environmental crises that we face. Environmental organizations around the world are often criticized

- Vol 19 No 4 - December 2017 - groundWork - 23 - Waste

Wasting jobs

By Musa Chamane Waste pickers demand that Tshwane Council support and recognize their livelihood

Waste pickers across the country face a number sites that are still operational. At one of these closed challenges that threaten their livelihoods. One of sites an MRF was erected and 162 waste pickers these challenges is fuelled by a lack of recognition of were promised jobs by the council. When the or support for waste pickers by their local councils, council is asked about those promised jobs now, such as the City of Tshwane. This challenge is they turn around and say it is the right of the private typical, and not the exception, where government company to choose who to employ and they don’t does not live up to its rhetoric on “green jobs”. have a role to play as the council, despite the Public Private Partnership that they have signed with New On Wednesday the 1st of November, more than GX (Pty) Ltd. 500 waste pickers from Tshwane/Pretoria took to the streets, marching against the City of Tshwane There are ten waste pickers’ cooperatives operating Council for failing to deliver jobs that were promised across all four operating dumpsites in Tshwane. to them in 2011. Tshwane Council is failing to None of the cooperatives is recognized by Tshwane support or recognize waste pickers. Waste recycling Council. There is only one cooperative – Re- projects are being privatized despite the existence kopaneng Recycling Cooperative, of thirty waste of waste pickers in the city. A memorandum was pickers working at Onderstepoort dumping site – handed over to Mr Michael Mkhari from the that has received funding from the cooperatives Tshwane Council at the end of the protest. incentives scheme of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). The cooperative has got tools such The national movement of waste pickers, the as scales, a baling machine and a truck, but they South African Waste Pickers’ Association (SAWPA), have been struggling to obtain an open space from and groundWork are calling for a country-wide the council so that they could work from the centre recognition of waste pickers’ contribution to the rather than at the working surface of the landfill. environment. Municipalities in general face a huge There have been fatalities and injuries in the past challenge in terms of waste management and the caused by informal recycling activities at various existence of the waste pickers contributes positively sites in South Africa. Despite the fatalities most in terms of waste minimization through recycling. municipalities are not prepared to address the issue. Poor management of waste poses a major health risk, pollutes the environment and fuels the impacts The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) and of climate change. waste pickers, in collaboration with civil society, are drafting municipal guidelines on how to integrate “We have written a number of letters to the waste pickers into the waste management system. Tshwane council in the past, questioning the This clearly indicates that the left hand is not aware newly built GX-owned Material Recovery of what the right hand is up to. Not only the DEA is Facility (MRF)” Msindo Makhanya (Tshwane working with waste pickers, but the likes of DTI and Waste Picker). the Department of Cooperative Governance and It is believed that the council is aware of the Traditional Affairs (COGTA) have either recognized contribution that waste pickers are making for or supported waste pickers. It becomes a problem the benefit of the environment. Tshwane had when municipalities deny knowing of the existence eight dumping sites back in 2007, of which half of waste pickers in their jurisdiction. have subsequently closed down. The closure of Municipalities have benefitted the most due to the these sites has displaced waste pickers who were activities of the waste pickers. Less waste is buried informed that they must move and work in other

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at landfills and is instead diverted for recycling. Actually, the protest in this city by waste pickers Recycling does not only take place at landfills but is taking place for the second time. The first one also in streets and communities. The Tshwane was against a municipal waste incinerator proposed waste pickers who are stationed at Ga-Rankuwa, by Enviroserve waste company in 2014. The Mamelodi, Onderstepoort and Soshanguve are incinerator never got the approval by DEA because all calling for the city to support them in pursuing it was clearly understood by DEA that jobs would their livelihoods. When handing in a memorandum, be lost should the incinerator get approval. Waste waste pickers have vowed that, if there no response pickers hope that this protest will not be in vain. or action, they will come back in an even more Hopefully the council will propose a meeting with serious protest when compared to the current waste pickers. Cities such as Tshwane have a huge protest. opportunity to create jobs from recycling. Industries that processes the packaging materials are a More than 100 dumpsites/landfills in South Africa stone’s throw away. The proximity of processing have been visited by groundWork and it is clear industries provides very fertile ground for recycling how great the contribution the waste pickers are in Gauteng. making is. Third world countries are struggling to manage waste. Plastics have proven to be the Finally, we do not have to pollute and clean later: main problem for polluting water bodies such as we can just not pollute in the first place. There oceans. Plastics, especially in Asia Pacific, are the are various ways that can be used to prevent main ocean pollutants. These pollutants have led pollution. The waste hierarchy is a tool that should to a global campaign with the goal of minimizing be used by all governments to make sure that plastics usage. The existence of waste pickers has waste is minimized, reused, repaired or recycled. In lessened the amount of plastics in the oceans, but implementing the hierarchy there are a number of the problem still persists. Plastics are not only a jobs that can be created and zero waste to landfill problem in oceans but also on the land and on the needs to be prioritized. The hierarchy needs to be environment in general. Plastics production is not supported by implementing recycling projects. An regulated in most third world countries and as a upcycling culture must be instilled in all the citizens result more and more plastics are produced. of the world, where separation has to be the first prize. This transition must be just, and must place Industry such as PET recycling company is bragging waste pickers at the centre. about recovering more than 50% of every PET product produced. In their bragging they fail to Waste PIckers picket outside recognize that the high recovery percentage is due the Tshwane to the existence of waste pickers. It is time for the Council offices. industry to filter the money down to the relevant Credit: people. Waste pickers have a hope, battling this groundWork out during the drafting of the Industry Waste Management Plan (INDWMP). The plan is being developed and civil society, including waste pickers, will have a say on how to minimize/recycle plastics. Very few countries in Africa have done something about plastics, especially plastic bags. Kenya has just banned plastic bags while South Africa introduced a levy in 1998 but government officials have abused the levy. The levy that is being collected in South Africa should be assisting in making sure that plastic bags are recycled, but is not being. More and more protests by waste pickers are looming due to dissatisfaction resulting from the lack of political will shown by municipalities.

- Vol 19 No 4 - December 2017 - groundWork - 25 - Obituaries

Obituaries

In memory of Patrick Jacobs In memory of Peter McKenzie In July 2017, we lost another activist, Patrick Jacobs, The Market Theatre Foundation is saddened to through illness. Patrick or Bra Pat, as most of us announce the passing of its Council member, Peter would call him, lived in Schoongesicht, Emalahleni. McKenzie who died this morning. He has served on the Council of the Market Theatre Foundation Bra Pat was a member of the Schoongesicht since 2008. His most recent exhibition, Theemeri – Residents Committee, which promoted and walking on a bed of flowers, closed at the Market defended human rights in the area. One of their Theatre last Sunday. key concerns was around the destruction and ill- health caused by mining activities next to their “It has come as a great shock to learn of neighbourhood. Through his persistence, Bra Pat Peter McKenzie’s passing. He played an active started looking for people and organizations that participatory role in development and growth of the could help his community and, in 2009, groundwork Market Photo Workshop,’ said Lekgetho Makola, started interacting with some community members Head of the Market Photo Workshop. Peter was of Schoongesicht. In 2011, he was amongst the a curriculum consultant, teacher and mentor at people who represented their community at CoP17, the Market Photo Workshop.Peter also lectured which was held in Durban. at the Durban University of Technology, Tshwane University of Technology and at the Institute for the Bra Pat and other community members from Advancement of Journalism. around the Highveld strongly believed in collective action to achieve the desired outcomes and be able “Peter’s reputation as a legendary photographer will to deal environmental injustices created by industry live on. He will also be celebrated for his passion for and mines. In 2015, Bra Pat, representing the education and his activism,’ sad Ismail Mahomed, Schoongesicht Residents Committee (SRC), and CEO of the Market Theatre Foundation. thirteen other Community Based Organizations Peter was founding member of the Afrapix (CBOs ) from the towns of Middelburg, Ermelo, Collective. He also co-founded the Durban Centre Delmas, Carolina and Emalahleni, formed the for Photography (DCP) at the KwaZulu-Natal Highveld Environmental Justice Network (HEJN), Society for the Arts where he also served as Council and he was elected a member of the executive President. He was also a member of Durban based committee. multi-disciplinary art collective Dala. Patrick was persistent, committed and passionate Peter was currently on a research and curriculum about ensuring the welfare of his community. development residency at the Market Photo He served his organizations SRC and HEJN with Workshop collaborating on a project to decolonize honesty and integrity, and with that he would go the history of photography in Africa, “A History of on representing both organizations in different African Photography – HOAP”. The Market Photo platforms like the Air Quality Forum, namely ITT Workshop will continue this legacy project. and MSRG and the Kusile Environmental Forum. “We remember Peter as a fearless artist and Until his death, Patrick always wanted solutions and photographer who placed people at the centre of was always questioning of all of us in order that his work. Throughout his association with Market we improve people’s lives and remain committed to Theatre Foundation as a teacher and as a member ensuring that our well-being should be prioritized of the Council he always displayed a strong sense of over profits. social justice, especially in his commitment towards supporting the under-privileged,” said Kwanele Gumbi, the Chairman of the Market Theatre Foundation.

(Extracted from a statement by the Market Theatre Foundation on the 13th of October 2017)

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Peter McKenzie, Speaking from Minnesota, USA, Indigenous “A fearless Environmental Network founder Tom Goldtooth artist and photographer lamented the loss of “a great man with a wealth of who placed knowledge”. Andrew St Ledger of The Woodland people at the League in Ireland said Menne was “a kind and centre of his gentle person and ferocious defender of our work” environment”. Dr David Fig, political economist, anti-nuclear activist and chairman of Biowatch South Africa, remembered Menne as a man of great integrity and passion, galvanised by “an outrage against injustice and the alarming expansion of industrial plantations”. Durban environmental justice campaigners Bobby In memory of Wally Menne Peek and Desmond D’Sa – both winners of the Wally Menne, 66, who collapsed at his home in international Goldman Environmental Prize – also Hillcrest and died in hospital on Thursday the 26th paid tribute to Menne. of October, was at the centre of the campaign to “Wally was moulded in the form of an old-school halt dune mining at Lake St Lucia in the 1980s, union organizer. He was uncompromising and held ultimately derailing the ambitions of Richards Bay his positions clearly,” said Peek, “There was no Minerals to extract titanium from the heart of one middle ground that corporates and reformist NGOs of Africa’s oldest game reserves. could force him into.” He was also a founding member of the Timberwatch Di Dold, a senior member of the Wildlife and alliance and the Durban Climate Action Group, and Environment Society, described him as “one of a was respected nationwide for his knowledge of kind”. indigenous plants. “When he argued his case, he was formidable and In email and Facebook messages from North he never gave up.“ America, Latin America, Asia and Europe, fellow campaigners variously described Menne as a “lion Menne had sacrificed his material comfort and among men”, a “dauntless eco warrior” and a health by working long hours, with most of his kind and patient teacher who inspired young and work done for no financial gain. old through his love of indigenous plants and wild (Extracted from an article by Tony Carnie in the Daily spaces. Maverick of the 29th of October 2017) Working with fellow activists from across the world, he led campaigns against paper giants Sappi and Mondi and other global timber corporations. Wally Menne, During the UN World Forestry Congress in Durban “a dauntless eco two years ago, he took issue with the title of the warrior” congress itself, declaring that it was a misnomer to describe single-species pine or gum tree plantations as forests. “These are not forests. These are fake forests!” he shouted, likening “forestry” to terms such as “separate development” or “mother tongue education” that had been used to put a pretty face on apartheid.

- Vol 19 No 4 - December 2017 - groundWork - 27 - Back Page

Burning Coal

majority of those who die early are poor and live alongside the polluting plants. The people who work in those plants get a double dose of pollution – at work and at home. In the context of high unemployment, they are glad of an income but expect an early death as the cost of it. That these deaths remain invisible is convenient to the political and economic elite. The environmental injustice and racism of the apartheid regime was handed on to the new South Africa as if it were natural to development. The groundWork Reports are produced annually to reflect on the state of environmental injustice. In 2016, The Destruction of the Highveld Part 1 focused on the politics and impacts of mining coal. This year, Part 2 focuses on burning coal and the dirty politics that accompanies it – in Eskom’s power stations, in Sasol’s coal-to-liquids petrochemical plants, and in the big metal smelters that dominate the industrial landscape of eMalahleni and Middelburg. These are the industries at the heart of the minerals-energy complex (MEC) that has shaped South Africa’s development for the last century. This report documents the experience of fenceline communities and workers and people’s struggles for clean air to breathe. It The violence of production hangs in the air of the also reports on the slow and partial responses Highveld. On the one hand, workers are exposed to this growing environmental health crisis by a to a volatile and destabilizing global market reluctant regulator. and thousands have lost their jobs in the bitter competition created by the glut of coal, steel and The pollution of air and water is immensely other commodities. On the other, air pollution from destructive. Coal-fired energy and industry is also big industries burning coal kills thousands of people a primary driver of climate change. And while every year. Hundreds of thousands more suffer development in the interests of the minerals-energy debilitating illness. complex is justified in the name of jobs, it has impoverished over half the people and left nearly This public health scandal goes unseen. The health 40% jobless. This report points to the urgency of a system does not register what is happening and just transition to a changed economic and political these deaths and illnesses are not reported in system shaped by the workers and communities official records or in the media. It is not just that who are marginalized within the present system the bodies cannot be lined up for inspection. The and free of the pollution produced by fossil fuels.

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