"One of the major objectives the local PVC industry had to meet this past year was the phasing out of potentially dangerous or hazardous heavy metals from the PVC production process, including chlorinated paraffins, EDC and VCM, mercury, lead, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, bisphenol A and DEHP," says SAVA CEO, Delanie Bezuidenhout. 

 

"SAVA believes that raw material suppliers, product manufacturers, product distributors and consumers are joint stewards for the responsible and sustainable production, use and disposal of PVC products. Upon endorsing a key commitment, our members and voluntary signatories of the PSP are bound to an open disclosure commitment and are required to supply general data related to a specific commitment to an independent auditor," she explains

 

 

"It also makes provision for the establishment of a Waste Management Bureau within the structures of the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA). The main purpose of the Waste Management Bureau will be to process, monitor and evaluate any Industry Waste Management Plans submitted to DEA," Bezuidenhout says.

 

It is SAVA's view that the outlined legislation either holds an opportunity for the local PVC industry to pro-actively submit and bring into effect its own Industry Waste Management Plan (IndWMP) or it could potentially hold a risk should the industry decide to adopt a 'wait-and-see' approach.

 

"When it comes to legislation and regulations, companies tend to underestimate the cost of non-compliance, which, within the framework of the NPSWM, could be dealt with by the implementation of a government managed tax similar to the plastic bag levy of which we are all too familiar with. Product manufacturers need to understand the true costs of failure, assess the business implications, and adopt long-term strategies to avoid these costs," she says.

Source : bizcommunity.com