EIGHT Western Cape municipalities are buckling under the pressure of unsustainable waste management programmes exacerbated by lack of funding and suitable land.
The province has 57 landfill sites across different regions and the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning said environmental assessments had shown that a shortage in landfills was a major concern.
“There is a huge shortage of suitable landfill sites. Sites need to meet strict environmental, social and technical considerations before it can be deemed suitable, and there are very limited parcels of land that meet this requirement. Waste minimisation needs to be taken seriously, and circular economy principles need to be taken into consideration,” said the department’s Rudolf van Jaarsveldt.
He said all municipalities need to do a topographical survey to estimate their remaining space, and from the funding that the department has, it had estimated that between 18 to 20 municipalities could be assisted over the three-year funding cycle.
“This will then give the municipality the ability to plan accordingly in terms of its waste management strategies, knowing what the life expectancy is of the landfill site,” continued Van Jaarsveldt.
The department said illegal dumping had become an increasing concern.
Witzenberg, Central Karoo District, Laingsburg, Cederberg, Oudtshoorn, Langeberg, Kannaland and Matzikama were identified as eight of 30 municipalities in the province that faced the biggest challenges.
In Cederberg, spokesperson Anthony Mlata said for a municipality without nearly enough disposable sites, they only had R500 000 budgeted towards clearing dumping sites.
“Cederberg Municipality has five disposal sites, these sites need to be closed due to either full capacity or poor location. Important and vulnerable aquifers under most of its municipal area make Cederberg an unsuitable location for waste sites,” said Mlata.
At Central Karoo the municipality’s Njabulo Ngcobo said there were three registered landfill sites servicing the three municipalities.
Ngcobo said with landfill space running out, efforts to divert waste for recycling businesses and application for landfill extension had been explored, but there were no funds to support these projects. The municipality spends R3.5m to clear dumping sites.
“Funds are being lost due to the municipality not charging for the private disposal of waste into their landfill site which then leads into the landfill space running out. In Prince Albert, the increased frequency of collection of household refuse and waste in general causes the landfill to be full,” he said.
Laingsburg’s municipal manager Jafta Booysen said that with only a single landfill site, more than R7m was allocated to solid management, but more than half went to cleaning up illegal dumping.
Witzenberg municipality’s Joseph Barnard said the municipality had five landfill sites and were spending R3.5m annually to clean up legal and illegal sites which were plagued by mismanagement from the public.
“All our landfills are fenced off, however, illegal residential structures are erected nearby and even on the landfill sites. The fencing is removed or stolen, which then leads to windblown litter,” said Barnard.
Professor Harro Blottnitz from the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Cape Town said encouraging the reduction of waste, and burning the solid waste using chemicals was worth exploring.
“People proposed that we should have a zero waste strategy. It is a good one to speak about for some time to come and we need to seriously talk about alternative strategies, which include incineration,” he said.
Founder of the lobby group Back to Work Campaign in Vrygrond, Mike Khumalo, said said municipalities need to support the waste pickers, and that the lack of resources to support them needed to be taken seriously.
“What they are doing is good for the environment but the conditions that they work in are very bad for their dignity and health,” he said.
Epidemiologist and health expert from Stellenbosch University, Dr Jo Barnes previously told Weekend Argus that landfill sites must be lined properly so that the pollution does not infiltrate and pollute groundwater and to make sure that rain does not cause run-off that pollutes nearby rivers and streams.