Second-Hand Goods Act 2009

Country / jurisdiction: South Africa · Year: 2009 · Status: In force · Level: National · Type: Voluntary

The Second-Hand Goods Act of 2009 establishes a comprehensive framework for regulating recycling activities in South Africa, with a particular focus on metal recycling. The legislation aims to prevent the trade in stolen metals whilst ensuring ethical recycling practices through strict registration and monitoring requirements.

The Act focuses primarily on the recycling of controlled metals, including base metals such as copper, aluminium, zinc, chrome, lead, nickel, tungsten, and tin. It also covers various alloys including brass, bronze, ferrovanadium, ferrosilicon, and ferrochrome. This comprehensive list ensures thorough regulation of valuable and commonly recycled metals within the industry. The Act provides a thorough definition of recycling activities, encompassing various industrial processes. These include melting, smelting, granulating, shredding, dismantling, sorting, grading, and cutting of materials. The Act specifically addresses the preparation of materials for industrial use in foundries, mills, smelters, refiners and manufacturing facilities.

All metal recyclers must:

undergo a dual registration process with the National Commissioner, requiring registration both as a dealer and as a recycler

maintain detailed documentation of all transactions and processing activities, including thorough verification and documentation of material sources, with records to be retained for a minimum of five years

The Act establishes severe penalties for non-compliance, including imprisonment for up to 10 years for serious violations. Courts may impose fines and order the forfeiture of recycling equipment and materials.

Official source: https://www.saps.gov.za/resource_centre/acts/downloads/juta/shg_act_6_2009.pdf