According to a note from the Ministry of the Environment, to which VerAngola had access, the ministers of the Environment and Industry and Commerce, Ana Paula de Carvalho and Rui Minguêns, respectively, were the signatories of the memorandum.
The signing of the document took place last Friday, in a ceremony that took place at the premises of the Ministry of the Environment and was attended by the Secretaries of State for the Environment, Yuri Santos, for Climate Action and Sustainable Development, Paula Francisco Coelho, to Indústria, Ivan Magalhães do Prado, as well as the president of the Board of Directors of the National Waste Agency, Nelma Caetano, among other employees from both ministries.
"The memorandum is regulated through joint Presidential Decree no. 265/18 of 15 November and combined with Presidential Decree no. 190/12 of 24 August, which approves the regulation on Waste Management, and Joint Executive Decree No. 119/21 of May 6 of the Ministries of Industry and Commerce and Environment, which sets the annual quota of Waste for Reuse, Recycling and its recovery outside the country", reads the statement.
In other words, according to Angop, the document was initialed in accordance with the presidential decrees that authorize the regulation of waste transfer for reuse, recycling and recovery abroad, as well as waste management, which also establish annual quotas of waste to be transferred by type.
According to the Ministry of the Environment, the joint decree is in accordance with "current legislation" and aims to "protect the interests of the national industry and the economic interests of businesspeople focused on the waste sector".
"The main objective of the joint decree is to establish the annual quota of waste to be transferred outside the country, as well as to reduce environmental pollution, increase the economic value of waste, acquire foreign currency, combat illegal exploitation and reuse, and its valorization", the guardianship statement also reads.
On the occasion, Ana Paula de Carvalho said that the document now initialed, which was suspended for a period of three years, must be signed annually, and ends up safeguarding the waste that is absorbed at local level.
Cited by Angop, the holder of the Environment portfolio explained that, therefore, all requests regarding waste with the possibility of export will have due treatment, as well as approval in accordance with the established quota, having also explained that her department acts as an entity which protects waste, while the export part is the responsibility of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
Rui Minguêns said that a legal obligation is being fulfilled to act in this process in order to raise revenue for Angola and prevent what is needed internally from being exported.
On the occasion, the minister, quoted by Angop, said that they will work each year to draw up a new decree, with a view to regulating export quotas for waste, considering the need at local level based on what will be produced and he further explained that the three-year suspension was based on the Covid-19 pandemic, which ended up dismantling activities in that sector.
The document allows that, from 2024 to 2025, construction and demolition waste/rubble, as well as mineral oil, tires, batteries, used accumulators, electrical and electronic equipment, are transferred and prevents the transfer of paper, plastic, both ferrous and non-ferrous scrap, material organic, leather waste, used vegetable oil and used dry batteries, writes Angop.
