The Waste Act, 2008, places a responsibility on the Minister of Environmental Affairs to establish a National
Waste Information System. It is the intention of the South African Waste Information System (SAWIS), to provide
a national baseline of the tonnages of waste recycled, treated, landfilled and exported. Waste information thus
collected will inform amongst others, education, awareness raising, planning, reporting and public safety
management. However, until SAWIS moves from voluntary reporting to enforced reporting under the planned
regulations, the system is unable to provide annual reports on the state of waste. As such, the Department of
Environmental Affairs commissioned the CSIR in partnership with COWI to develop a waste in formation baseline
for 2011 using existing waste data stored in provincial and national waste information systems, and in public and
private reports. This paper presents the preliminary findings of this waste information baseline for South Africa.