Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) plays a vital role in protecting South Africa’s marine environment against pollution. Establishing a healthy collaboration between SST and TNPA is key to achieving our overarching objective of “Zero Plastics to the Seas of Africa”.
In view of this, on 19 and 20 June we held a workshop with TNPA stakeholders from our commercial ports to discuss current port waste management practices, their inherent strengths and weaknesses, and potential future improvements that can be made.
One of the areas SST covered is that of ship-generated waste data, which is essential for ports needing to plan ahead and comply with MARPOL (the main international convention covering the prevention of pollution emanating from ships).
Such data is equally important for SST’s scientists to make informed recommendations towards improving our ports’ waste management strategies. During the workshop, it became apparent that there is a lack of up-to-date waste data for our ports, as well as a lack of adequate standardised waste management methods. To assist TNPA, SST is now in the process of developing a report consisting of various recommendations.
