Environment under surge

Siphosothando Mhlongo

The cows don’t have a choice. On the communal grazing land outside eMpungwini village, in Normandien, they pick their way through torn, bloated disposable nappies to reach patches of grass. When the rain comes, those same nappies are swept into the stream that children cross on their way to school. What began as a household convenience has turned into a health, environmental and justice problem that no one wants to own.

Residents say the land belongs to the traditional council, but waste collection is the municipality’s job. The ward councilor confirms he has received complaints about the dumping, but explains there is no budget line for collecting absorbent hygiene products in areas without door-to-door service. That gap between traditional governance and municipal responsibility is where the problem grows. The question residents keep asking is simple: who is supposed to clean the grazing land and the river banks, and who will pay for it?

For families, the economics make dumping feel like the only option. Disposables take up almost all of a child grant for many households, and without collection points or affordable alternatives, leaving black bags in the bush costs nothing. An environmental survey Ihawulezwe Social Movement made found that informal settlements found that 12.4% of caregivers throw nappies in the forest and 8.6% dump them anywhere. Other parents burn them or bury them in shallow holes. When pilots have made collection easier, like drop-off points at ECDs with twice-weekly pick-ups, volumes go up and dumping goes down. People here say the same thing would help them: a regular truck, plastic bags provided, and jobs for local people to do the cleaning.

Socially, the impact is visible every day. Children walk past the piles on their way to class. Mothers say they know it is wrong, but with six or more nappies a day and no bin, what else can they do? There is also a gap in environmental health knowledge. In many rural communities rivers are still seen as a place to wash waste away, not as a source of drinking water and irrigation that can carry disease back to people.

Disposable nappies are plastic, absorbent gel and human waste sealed together. They do not break down and can sit in the environment for hundreds of years. There is no recycling or treatment facility for them in rural KZN, and while reusable “smart nappy” pilots have worked elsewhere, they remain out of reach without subsidies.

This situation is clear but unenforced. The National Environmental Management: Waste Act prohibits illegal dumping. The National Water Act is also at risk when leachate from soiled nappies runs into rivers and groundwater. Yet in communal areas enforcement is weak, and residents say they have never seen anyone fined.

Environmentally, this is where all the threads meet. Rain washes chemicals, microplastics and pathogens from the nappies into grazing land and water. Research across South Africa mapped 627 diaper waste sites near rivers and livestock areas. Pathogens like rotavirus can survive for months in excreta. Cattle ingest plastic while grazing, and when that dung is later used as fertilizer, microplastics cycle back into soils and food. Herders in this area say abattoirs have already started refusing some communal cattle, and they have lost calves they suspect were linked to what the animals ate.

The impact stretches beyond this one ward. Across KZN, where waste service is absent or irregular, nappies end up in water and food chains. It is an environment problem, a health problem, and a justice problem, because the communities least responsible for the waste are carrying the biggest burden.

The community is not waiting for a perfect solution, they are asking for three things now. First, designated collection points near ECDs and taxi ranks so parents have somewhere to take used nappies. Second, clarity from both the municipality and the traditional council on who is responsible for grazing land and riverbanks. Third, a clean-up plan that employs local people and is followed by ongoing education in schools and clinics.

Until those steps happen, the grazing land will keep filling up, one nappy at a time. The cows will keep grazing next to it, the children will keep walking past it, and the rain will keep carrying it downstream.