Western Cape filling up the landfills

The Western Cape has estimated that it has five years of landfill space left. This was the message delivered by MEC Anton Bredell at the Waste Minimisation Summit last week. The City's waste generation however continues to grow at an average of about 7 percent a year, the provincial Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning has warned.

Bredell said that daily waste was being generated according to the economic status of residents, with wealthier people generating an average of 2kg, whilst middle-income groups vary between 1kg and 1.5kg, and poor people producing 7g of waste each day.
 
"Waste management generation is impacted on by people who have acquired a job in the Western Cape and who have a fixed place of residence, as well as by those who have migrated without a job and reside in an informal settlement," said Bredell.

"The rapid development of the Western Cape, as well as general water, energy, pollution and waste, transport and other resource-use inefficiencies, is leading to extensive environmental degradation and bio-diversity loss," Bredell warned.

According to Bredell, the summit, was key to identifying the problems and proposing solutions to improve society's resourcefulness, thereby decreasing waste.

Gottlieb Arendse, director of waste management for the department, said landfills were unsustainable and expensive to build.

He said 83 of the province's 125 landfills were not licensed, a situation that was being exacerbated by inappropriate spatial planning, a lack of available land, lengthy approval periods and increased waste transport costs.

Barrie Coetzee, manager of integrated waste management for the City of Cape Town, said waste minimisation would not be possible without financial support, which would take time to realise.

Outcomes of the summit, including waste minimisation, an alternative to landfills and the stimulation of the recycling economy of the province, will be part of the department's integrated waste management plan for the Western Cape.