Developing an environmental management accounting framework for the waste management sustainability of municipalities in Gauteng.
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Date
2022
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Abstract
Municipalities through local government play a significant role of solid waste management,
among other roles. This is important to avoid emergence of negative waste-related
environmental impacts. However, this is true for municipalities in Gauteng. Improper
municipal solid waste management is leading to negative environmental and social impacts
on communities such as rising pollution, emissions, blocked drains and related diseases.
From an accounting standpoint, the traditional management accounting system is incapable
of handling the environmental concerns hence environmental management accounting
(EMA) was developed to overcome these limitations. Therefore, EMA is a new research area
particularly in the local government. The primary aim of this study is to develop an EMA
framework for the waste management sustainability of the municipalities in Gauteng. This is
done by initially understanding how EMA can be used to improve waste management in the
municipalities. More specifically, the study through secondary objectives aims: (1) to identify
the nature of information used to report waste management issues, (2) to explore the current
EMA practices used to improve waste management and (3) to examine the benefits of
adopting the EMA practices. The study utilised a qualitative approach based on a
constructivist grounded theory research design. Data was collected through documentary
analysis. Using a purposive sampling, annual reports of five municipalities spanning 2015 to
2021 were used to achieve theoretical saturation. The overall findings show that EMA
practices such as waste management system, environmental audits and employee
environmental training are presently used to improve waste management. In addition, the
results indicate that non-monetary environmental information is mostly used to report waste
management issues in municipalities in Gauteng. This shows inefficiency in collecting of
monetary information. Applying EMA practices in the municipalities has led to environmental
benefits such as reduction in contribution to climate change, improvement in environmental
performance and compliance with national legislation. Based on the findings, the study
recommends that a national or provincial waste information database be developed, including
definition and classification of different kinds of waste to overcome the limitation of absence
of monetary waste management data in municipalities.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.