Future planning at City of Johannesburg

The City of Johannesburg (CoJ) collects about 1.6 million tonnes of waste each year and, just like many other Gauteng municipalities, it is experiencing waste disposal and management challenges. This is primarily due to the lack of landfill capacity and alternative waste disposal facilities.

Johannesburg currently has four landfills with an estimated remaining life of roughly five years. Speaking at the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa’s Waste Crisis in Gauteng seminar, Makhosazana Baker, director: Waste Management and Regulation, CoJ, says the city’s waste management problems largely stem from three main issues: • increasing waste volumes coupled with diminishing landfill space • environmental pollution and degradation • unsustainable waste practices and uncoordinated waste planning/policy implementation. Baker says, going forward, the CoJ’s target is to reduce waste to landfill through waste minimisation and recycling, and to develop alternative waste treatment technology projects to treat over some 800 000 tonnes of waste per year. This is 50% of municipal waste.

The CoJ plans to do this through a threepronged approach: 1. Promoting separation at source 2. Developing alternative waste treatment technologies 3. Reducing waste to landfill through waste minimisation.

Separation-at-source models

A separation-at-source programme (S@S Programme) was piloted in 2009, at the Waterval depot. It was then rolled out in additional CoJ depot areas using a cooperative model in low- to middle-income areas in 2013. The model included 25 cooperatives, which were appointed and managed through a memorandum of understanding.

Using this model, Pikitup was only responsible for providing a caged truck with a driver, plastic bags and a sorting facility. It was then up to the cooperatives to provide their own labour, distribute bags, collect recyclables, sort and sell recyclables for their own financial benefit, and report waste diversion tonnages to Pikitup.

In 2017, a private sector model was introduced, whereby two companies became responsible for the entire waste collection and management process. They report tonnages to Pikitup as waste diversions and, in return, Pikitup pays service providers on a rate per household basis.

Baker says both models are currently under review due to high running costs and the CoJ is looking into a single model, which will be based on a rate per tonne diverted instead of the current rate per household.

Waste-to-energy project

This project was initiated in 2007 and a contract was signed to implement the project over the next 20 years. Feasibility studies were completed on six sites, with five of those found to have enough gas to generate electricity. The CoJ is currently commencing with a public-private partnership (PPP) procurement stage.

This will not only result in a drastic reduction of waste to landfill but will also be instrumental in the generation of renewable energy and creation of jobs. “The general scope of this project is to provide the City of Johannesburg with a waste treatment technology facility. It will accept and treat 500 000 tonnes of municipal solid waste per annum,” says Baker.

R e n e w a b l e energy generated from the project will be fed into the municipal grid, offsetting largely

coal-derived electricity. It is expected that about 19 MW will be generated from the project, which can power approximately 12 500 middle-income households.

Biodegradable waste pilot

A feasibility study has been completed by the University of Johannesburg facility, which will use waste from fresh produce markets and garden waste to generate biofuel to run nine Metrobus vehicles. Baker asserts that this will not only reduce carbon emissions but there are plans to scale up to a bigger plant, which has the potential to divert 30% waste generated and produce enough biofuel to run 800 buses.

The current challenges

Baker says the biggest challenges with the S@S model is the high cost of collection,

coupled with low household participation.

“Sometimes the material they provide is also of low quality. This module requires participation from residents and, at the moment, it’s very low.”

She also asserts that there is poor coordination and synergy in spheres of government. In terms of the wasteto-energy facilities, Baker says the biggest challenge is the high cost of developing the project and getting it up and running. In addition, the lack of technical skills and know-how has proved to be a barrier.

CoJ plans going forward

Baker says the CoJ is planning on establishing more PPPs and to secure landfill/disposal space from private sector role players. Moreover, it also plans to: • review the current service delivery model, focusing on combating illegal dumping and responding more effectively to community needs • increase future planning and opportunity management vs performance management • align legislation to create an enabling environment • promote greater synergy and cooperation from all stakeholders • allocate more resources to green waste m i n i m i s a t i o n and recycling initiatives.