Waste
Working towards a Zero Waste South Africa: one step at a time BY KATE STUBBS, DIRECTOR FOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING AT INTERWASTE
South Africans generate over 42 million cubic meters of municipal waste each year, with the vast majority of this waste being disposed of at landfill sites. In fact, according to Henry Roman, director of environmental services and technology at the Department of Science and Technology, South Africans are dumping as much as R17 billion worth of material at landfill sites across the country.
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hen you consider this, and the fact that South Africa is likely to run out of landfill space by 2024, then you begin to understand the enormous amount of pressure for businesses and government, to create more sustainable developments to better manage the waste to landfill challenge.
How much are we recycling? According to the Department of Environmental Affairs, a significant amount of recyclable waste is still going to landfill. In fact, some sources even indicate that only about 34 percent of waste collected in South Africa is effectively recycled. This poses a serious threat on the country’s waste management resources as landfills are not designed to break down waste, only to store it. What happens when they reach capacity?
How much could we recycle? There is a real opportunity for South Africa to increase its recycling scope – especially if we consider more inclusive recycling and repurposing projects, which really engage our communities. South Africa has the potential to recycle more than 6.9 million tons each year – bringing the current 34 percent up to at least 65 percent. If we take that South Africa is aiming to reach a target of 20 percent of total waste being diverted from landfills by 2020, this means that sustainable innovations need to be sought by companies, to ensure they are not only compliant (from a waste perspective), but also to support the Government’s objectives of reaching these targets.
Where recycling isn’t possible In cases where recycling and reusing is not possible – we are seeing growth in destruction facilities as well as in the waste-to-energy space. In fact, waste-to-energy plants offer a unique opportunity to tackle two critical challenges; power generation and reduction of reliance on landfills. Waste innovation and recycling programmes that optimise generated waste into alternative sources for reuse, are critical to achieve the diversion of waste from landfill targets for the country. Today, there are stronger
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mandates and legislation in place, with both monetary and corporate social responsibility (CSR) incentives that allow companies to become actively involved in recycling initiatives and encourage changed behaviour among their employees as well as their supply chains.
The role of legislation Over the past several years, new legislation has been developed to support more environmentally friendly and sustainable waste management processes, including improvements in the disposal of waste-to-landfill and, more importantly, to encourage the waste industry to seek alternative www.alive2green.com/publications/green-economy-journal/
2019/11/08 9:54 AM