Levy on disposable nappies mooted to save SA's waterways‚ clogged by inadequate waste management

23 June 2016 - 20:57 By Shaun Smillie

Across South Africa‚ disposable nappies are adding to the cocktail of poisons contaminating the country's waterways‚ and as yet no one knows its full effect.The problem‚ according to the Association for Water and Rural Development (AWARD)‚ is that in many rural areas‚ there are no facilities to collect disposable nappies.AWARD has found that in many instances‚ nappies are being dumped in rivers or dams‚ says the organisation's assistant director Derick du Toit.Where this can be particularly seen is along the Olifants River that cuts through Mpumalanga. It is estimated that 10 million people rely on the river‚ with many rural communities using it for drinking water. High concentrations of e-coli bacteria from raw sewerage‚ causes diarrhoea‚ a leading killer of babies in the third world.The problem‚ according to Du Toit‚ is two-fold. One is that they add to the e-coli count of rivers and dams‚ and they take as long as 500 years to biodegrade.“Disposable nappies act like teabags‚ they sit in water and ferment‚ drawing out the e-coli‚” Du Toit said.Du Toit said as yet no one in South Africa has quantified the extent of the problem‚ although his organisation was recently given funding to do so by USAID.A solution‚ said Du Toit‚ had to be found to deal with the problem. This could be municipalities digging more landfills or a levy approach‚ where companies are charged a fee that goes towards disposing of nappies.“This was done with plastic bags in South Africa and that had an impact‚” he said...

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