Benoît Le Roy
*This article first appeared in our SimplyGreen digital magazine
Waste is inevitable but we have to take a circular, rather than a linear, approach to dealing with it.
The circular approach would see us re-using waste, repurposing it or recycling it, however, currently as much as 90% of waste is relegated to the waste bin, mostly in landfill, with some being incinerated. In 2017, South Africa generated about 54 million tons of general waste, of which 38.6% was recycled, and 61.4% went to landfill.
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These relatively promising statistics look much worse when you add our 66.8 million tons of hazardous waste to the equation, making a total of 110 million to 120 million tons of waste a year – and these figures do not include mining waste.
When we add general waste to hazardous waste, only 6.3% is recycled with the rest sent to landfills. Cumulatively, we landfill 79% of our waste which, in round numbers, is about 21% “recycled/recovered”.
This is disastrous for an economy of our stature and maturity. Currently, 58% of our paper is recycled, 78% of our glass and 75% of our metal. The plastics figure is 43%. Microplastics are a serious threat to our entire food chain.
The problem might seem too big for ordinary people to get their heads around but the fact is the transition to a circular economy starts when producers of goods and services are forced to adapt to what consumers prefer and purchase.
What can we do at the basic, household level? One step is to stop sending organic waste to landfill. A total of 56% of our waste is classified as organic waste – generally garden and kitchen waste – which can have a moisture content over 50%, so half is water. About 69% of organic waste is sent to landfill – and the percentage should be zero.
Waste services need to stop collecting organics. Taking the circular approach, we need to return it to the ground, such as by composting it. Nature functions by recycling – think of fallen leaves becoming nutrients and mulch for plants The earth needs its moisture, trace elements and fibres returned to remain fertile and productive.
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Many of us can remember when milk and fruit juice were delivered in glass bottles a few decades ago, at night, using battery-powered delivery vehicles so as to not wake up the sleeping population. We need to go back to this as glass is virtually infinitely reusable and recyclable. This way we can stop the demand for single-use plastics and composite packaging that is complex to recycle.
Reuse is higher in the waste hierarchy than recycling and should be our first choice. After that we have to consider repurposing what cannot be reused, such as organic food waste which we can compost. The bottom line is that we must become more regenerative in our day-to-day lives. We have no choice if we are to survive.
*Benoît Le Roy is an environmental alchemist with 40 years of water, waste and energy engineering experience.
He is the chief executive and co-founder of the South African Water Chamber, established to represent the private water infrastructure sector, to collaborate with and assist the government to implement the national water and sanitation master plan. This will not only re-industrialise the water sector but also provide many skilled jobs and the opportunity to again export water-related products and expertise globally.