Waste management, minimisation, recycling, and composting

Your waste

Do you think about how much waste you produce, or do you just dump it in the rubbish bin and leave it for someone else to deal with? Yes, you pay your rates to have your waste disposed of, but have you ever thought about just what goes into getting rid of your waste?

Disposal of your waste

This all includes the organisation of the regular collections, making provision that there are adequate numbers of waste collection trucks and staff, and identifying the locations of where that waste must be dumped. The cost of all of this runs into tens, no, hundreds of millions of rands. These costs are rising because our population is growing, generating higher and higher volumes of waste.

Organisation of waste management

It doesn’t help that our municipality has not integrated its waste management systems. There is no formal requirement for ratepayers to separate their wastes into recyclables, non-recyclables, and organics. There are no accurate statistics to reflect how much waste is actually recycled in the eThekwini municipal area, but some estimates suggest that figure could be less than 5%. There is no system to segregate garden waste to enable it to be composted to supply compost to the public for food growing and for use in municipal gardens and open spaces. (Blue garden waste bags are collected in the same trucks that collect the general black waste bags.) There is no intensive public education system to teach people about waste management and waste minimisation to help reduce the costs of waste management. The last eThekwini Integrated Waste Management Plan was published in 2004, 20 years ago. That reflects the low level of importance the municipality places on the management of waste.

Land for landfill

The number of potential, appropriate sites that can be used for landfill sites in the eThekwini municipal area is minimal. Land shortage, the need for high-potential land close to urban populations to be used for growing food, and the need for land for housing, commerce and industry to create homes and jobs is paramount. Existing landfill sites in the municipal area are filling up rapidly, and replacements have not been lined up. The cost of identifying locations, designing landfill sites, and building them is enormously expensive, and the ratepayers will have to pay for it.

What can you do?

Have you given any thought as to how you could reduce the amount of waste that you put out for collection each week? Have you thought about the waste that you generate and what you could do to minimise that waste? Are you doing enough to separate your recyclable waste and put those valuable resources back into the system for reuse? This is something we all need to get involved in and do our bit to reduce waste generation and disposal.

Composting

Aside from recycling, waste minimisation, and zero waste, there are many other simple waste management actions everyone can take. The simplest is composting. Composting converts organic waste into nutrient-rich soil, which can be used to grow better vegetables in your garden or to re-invigorate your potted plants. There are multiple options for South Africans, from small bin composting to major stack composting. This South African composting site will give you plenty of ideas, as well as practical hints and tips. Try it this weekend and get yourself started on reducing your organic waste which will help to grow healthier and stronger vegetables in your garden!