ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

PART I
Preliminary

SECTION

1. Short title

2. Interpretation

PART II
Establishment of Department

3. Establishment of Department

4. Staff of Department

5. Identity card of an officer

PART III
Functions of Department

6. Functions of Department

7. Annual Report

8. Qualifications of officers and managers

PART IV
Waste Management Plans

9. Local and national waste management plans

10. Waste recycling plan

11. Litter plan

PART V
Registration and Licensing of Waste Carriers

12. Registration of waste carrier

13. Licensing of waste carriers

PART VI
Registration of Waste Disposal Sites and Licensing of Waste Management Facilities

14. Registration of waste disposal sites

15. Unlicenced waste management facility prohibited

16. Licensing of waste management facility

17. Consultation

18. Conditions of waste management facility licence

19. Variation of conditions

20. Transfer of waste management facility licence

21. Suspension of waste management facility licence

22. Revocation of waste management facility licence

23. Surrender of waste management facility licence

24. Exemption from holding licence

25. Public register of issued waste management facility licences

26. Closure of facility by order of Minister

27. Appeals

28. Offence and penalty

PART VII
Powers and Duties of Local Authorities

29. Collection of waste

30. Receptacles for household waste

31. Disposal of waste

32. Removal of waste

33. Power to recycle waste

PART VIII
Litter

34. Prohibition to litter

35. Abatement of litter

36. Dumping of litter

37. Principal Litter Authority

38. Notices for depositing litter

PART IX
Enforcement Powers

39. Power to obtain information

40. Power of search and seizure

41. Right of entry

42. Civil liability

43. Urgent provisional orders

44. General penalty

PART X
Application of Basel Convention

45. Application of Basel Convention to regulations

PART XI
General

46. Public records

47. Public register

48. Interference with waste

49. Hazardous and clinical waste

50. Classification, packaging and labelling

51. Duty of care in respect of waste

52. Body corporate liability

53. Inspection of land

54. Confidentiality of information

55. Power to make regulations

Schedule - Basel Convention on the Control of Trans-Boundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, 1989

Act 15, 1998.

An Act to provide for the establishment of the Department of Sanitation and Waste Management; to make provision for the planning, facilitation and implementation of advanced systems for regulating the management of controlled waste in order to prevent harm to human, animal and plant life; to minimise pollution of the environment, to conserve natural resources; to cause the provisions of the Basel Convention to apply in regulating the trans-boundary movement of hazardous wastes and their disposal; and for matters incidental to and connected to the foregoing.

[Date of Commencement: 4th September, 1998]

1. Short title

This Act may be cited as the Waste Management Act.

2. Interpretation

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires-

"authorised officer" means an officer of the Department authorised to act on its behalf and shall include such other public officers as the Minister may appoint after consultation with the respective authorities;

"Basel Convention" means the Basel Convention on the control of trans-boundary movement of hazardous wastes and their disposal, concluded in 1989, to which Botswana is a party, and the provisions of which are applicable in regulating the trans-boundary movement of waste as provided for under section 45;

"clinical waste" means-

(a) waste which, unless rendered safe, may prove hazardous to any person, animal or plant coming into contact with it, arising from human or animal tissue, blood or other body fluids, excretions, drugs or other pharmaceutical products, radioactive materials, swabs or dressings, microbiological cultures and potentially infected waste from pathology departments or syringes, needles or other sharp instruments; or

(b) any other waste which may cause infection to any person, animal or plant coming into contact with it arising from-

(i) medical, nursing, dental, veterinary, pharmaceutical or similar practice;

(ii) investigation, treatment, care, teaching or research; or

(iii) the collection of blood for transfusion;

"commercial waste" means waste from premises used wholly or mainly for the purpose of a trade, business, sport, recreation, entertainment or as local or central government offices, and excludes household waste, industrial waste or excavated waste from a mine or mine tailings impoundment as defined under the Mines and Minerals Act, save for that mine waste for which the Minister may prescribe a different categorisation for;

"controlled waste" includes the waste defined as household, industrial, commercial, clinical or hazardous waste in this Act;

"Director" means a person appointed under section 4 as Director;

"Department" means the Department to be established under section 3;

"disposal", in relation to waste, means operations which do not lead to the possibility of resource recovery, recycling, reclamation, direct re-use or alternative uses;

"harm" means interference with the ecological systems of which the living organisms form part and in case of a living person includes harm, distress or annoyance to any of his senses or damage to his property;

"hazardous waste" means controlled waste which has the potential, even in low concentrations, to have significant adverse effect on public health or the environment on account of its inherent chemical and physical characteristics, such as toxic, ignitable, corrosive, carcinogenic or other properties;

"household waste" means waste from-

(a) any building used wholly for the purposes of living accommodation;

(b) a residential home;

(c) premises forming part of a university or school or other educational establishment;

"industrial waste" means waste from any premises-

(a) used for the purposes of or in connection with the provision to the public of transport services by land, air or water;

(b) used for the purposes of or in connection with the supply to the public of gas, water or electricity or the provision of sewerage services;

(c) used for the purposes of or in connection with the provision to the public of postal or telecommunication services;

(d) forming part of a hospital or nursing home;

(e) that are subject to a licence to manufacture under the  Industrial Development Act;

"litter" means any object or matter discarded or abandoned by the person in whose possession or control it was;

"local authority" means a city, town or district council or a land board;

"local waste management plan" means the plan drawn up by a local authority under section 9;

"national waste management plan" means the plan drawn up by the Director under section 9;

"principal litter authority" means a local authority designated as such under section 37;

"recycling" includes the reclamation of waste, recovery of materials, reprocessing of wastes, resource recovery and re-use of waste;

"reclamation of waste" means the collection, sorting and upgrading of waste materials to a usable standard;

"recovery of materials" means the recovery of materials from waste and their re-use for either the same purpose or for different purposes;

"reprocessing of waste" means the physical, chemical or biological conversion of waste materials to generate other usable materials;

"resource recovery" means the recovery of energy by means of-

(a) incineration of hazardous waste; and

(b) reclamation of water contaminated by waste;

"treatment" means subjecting waste to any process including resource recovery, re-use, reprocessing, reclaiming or recycling; and the term 'treat' shall be construed accordingly;

"trans-boundary movement of waste" means the importation and exportation of waste into or from Botswana or the transit of waste through Botswana;

"waste" includes the following substances and any combination thereof which are discarded by any person or are accumulated or stored by any person for the purpose of recycling-

(a) undesirable or superfluous by-products;

(b) residue or remainder of any process or activity;

(c) any gaseous, liquid or solid matter;

"waste carrier" means a person registered and licensed under Part V to transport waste;

"waste disposal site" means a site, registered under section 14, for the accumulation of waste to be disposed of or treated and includes a mobile or immobile waste treatment plant, waste storage or transfer facility or landfill site;

"waste management" means the collection, deposit, interim storage, transfer, transport, treatment and final disposal of waste or controlled waste; and 'manage controlled waste' shall be construed accordingly;

"waste management facility" means a waste disposal site, licensed under section 16, for the purpose of controlled waste management;

"waste producer" means a person who creates or produces controlled waste;