This article has been supplied.The Recyclers Association of South Africa (RASA) has written to the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment calling for an urgent inter-departmental review of the Price Preference System (PPS) following the publication of the Draft National Circular Economy Action Plan (NCEAP) on 1 June 2026.
The NCEAP establishes South Africa’s first comprehensive 10-year national framework (2026–2036) to transition from a linear “take-make-dispose” economy to a regenerative circular model. It commits to keeping strategic materials in circulation at their highest value, formalising 60,000–90,000 waste reclaimers through a Just Transition with service-level agreements benchmarked against the National Minimum Wage (R30.23 per hour), and positioning South Africa as the primary AfCFTA secondary materials processing hub.
Despite the direct relevance of scrap metal to these objectives, the metal recycling sector — comprising formal SMEs and the estimated 400,000 informal waste pickers who form the foundational collection network — was not consulted during the development of the NCEAP.
Even more concerning is the ongoing operation of the Price Preference System administered by the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) under the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC). The PPS continues to function in direct conflict with the NCEAP’s core principles by imposing a 30% price preference discount, requiring sellers to bear the full cost of inter-provincial transport (creating geographic market segmentation), permitting selective offers and protracted “reasonable engagement” processes that frequently result in permit declines, and suppressing gate- level prices for steel scrap to levels that render recovery economically irrational for waste pickers.
