WAST E & E N V I RO N ME N TAL MAN AGEMENT
Taking environmental concerns to heart The City of Tshwane recognises that managing waste effectively and safeguarding our natural environments significantly contribute to promoting environmentally friendly communities as well as health and safety.
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s a champion of sustainable growth and development, the City believes that achieving sustainable development objectives depends heavily on the state of the environmental health. Therefore, providing a predictable, dependable and sustainable waste management service is one of the critical priorities the City focused on. As part of its interventions for effective waste management, during the 2019/20 financial year, the City focused mainly on the following: • collecting and transporting general waste to disposal facilities on a daily and weekly basis • providing a bulk waste collection service – collecting and transporting bulk waste • cleaning public spaces (picking up litter, preventing and clearing illegal dumping sites) • managing waste disposal facilities • minimising waste • waste recycling • providing a bulk waste collection service – collecting and transporting bulk waste • promoting and enforcing effective compliance with legislation.
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REIGNITING EXCELLENCE IN TSHWANE 2 0 2 1
Waste collection Through a process of decentralisation, the City’s waste management services are rendered in seven different regions, varying from a densely populated urban environment with short travelling distances between service points, to a sparsely populated rural environment with long travelling distances between service points. The City provides all formal households, business properties and recognised informal settlements with access to a basic waste service, covering a total of 2 338 proclaimed areas and more than 145 informal areas. Waste removal services are provided consistently at least once a week. Waste is collected using a combination of kerbside household collection, business daily collection, bulk collection, and basic (plastic bags and communal skip collection) collection services in all the regions across Tshwane.
Waste disposal sites The City has four landfill sites that are managed according to the minimum requirements for waste disposal. These landfill sites are permitted and
operated according to the minimum requirements for waste disposal at landfills, as published by the former Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. An air space assessment study covering all four active landfill sites was conducted in the 2018/19 financial year to determine the amount of space available against the current rate of landfill usage and as part of effective waste disposal management in the monitoring of landfill compliance in accordance with operating requirements. Of importance, the lifespan of landfill sites is also dependent on the disposal rate and waste minimisation. The City is in the process of preparing for the extension of landfill site height to accommodate additional waste and extension of life. This is subject to approval by the Department of Water and Sanitation, as well as the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The City-compliant landfill sites – and their remaining lifespan, calculated as at 21 February 2019 – are listed below: • Ga-Rankuwa – 13 years • Hatherley – 12 years • Bronkhorstspruit – 6 years • Soshanguve – 13 years. As can clearly be seen, this is of particular concern, yet is in no way unique to the City of Tshwane, with
