Raphael Wolf
RUSTENBURG Girls’ High School in Rondebosch has implemented a recycling and reuse initiative that allows the school to generate waste, without sending a shred of it to any landfill site.
“We decided at the beginning of this year to implement our ‘zero waste to landfill’ initiative. It’s one of our focus areas of sustainability plan – we do not produce any waste to municipal refuse landfill,” said the school’s campus manager, Myles Siebrits.
So effective has the initiative been since its implementation on the first day of school this year that the City’s Solid Waste Department was notified that the school no longer required black wheelie/refuse bins.
Expecting to save R16 000 per year on the waste collection contract’s cancellation, Siebrits said: “We cancelled our contract with the Refuse Department (despite the daily generating of waste by 1 000 people at the school) and recycle all our solid waste.
“Our food/organic waste we turn into compost, which we sell to the school community. Service providers collect all our glass, tins, plastic, paper and we get remunerated for the waste once it’s weighed.
“We were sending 26 bins of waste to landfill per week. That was 1 400 bins annually, which equated to some 350m³ of waste – enough to fill the school’s swimming pool.”
Extra recycling bins were placed around the school, including organic/food waste receptacles, Siebrits said.
“This organic/food waste is composted and sold to parents. The compost is also used on the campus. Revenue is also generated from the sale of paper, tin, glass and plastic waste, whilst white paper waste is donated to charity.”
Matriculant Josie Wissema described the initiative as absolutely fantastic. Other schools should start similar projects, she said: “It’s very simple. It’s not something difficult. It’s something small that will make a huge impact on our future.”
Geila Wills, the school’s public relations and marketing officer, said its Earth Children Society and its Campus Development and Maintenance Committee were also involved.
The initiative includes installing thermal blankets in the school’s swimming pool; awareness creation around electricity and water use; underground dripper irrigation systems; solar water heating systems; and an expanded borehole system.