ReSource Magazine Feb 2019

The people keeping it clean

Heavy industry is a critical part of our economy. But disposing of the waste they produce in a way that’s safe for people and the environment takes years of expertise, scientific savvy and biochemistry knowledge.

Not just anyone can do it. That’s why EnviroServ employs the most highly-qualified professionals for the job.

Like our Lead Applications Analyst Eduan Van Heerden. An avid cricketer, helping to protect the environment is in his best interest. Which means he’s just as passionate about protecting the planet as you are.

With a B.Com Degree in Information Systems and 10 years’ experience supporting EnviroServ’s waste disposal systems, he takes pride in helping to giving our customers peace of mind that their waste has been safely disposed.

Because expertise is important, but so is having employees who live the EnviroServ values of passion and integrity, who are dedicated to working towards delivering waste solutions that are environmentally responsible and effective.

Waste management at a glance

Solid waste management is a critical, yet often overlooked, element for planning sustainable, healthy cities. While we are seeing improvements and innovations in solid waste management globally, it is a complex issue that we need to take urgent action on.

• The world generates 2.01 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste annually

• Global waste is expected to grow to 3.40 billion tonnes by 2050

DID YOU K n OW?

• The East Asia and Pacific region generates the majority of the world’s waste, at 23%

• The Middle East and North Africa generate the least waste, at only 6%

• One of the fastest growing regions is sub-Saharan Africa where, by 2050, total waste generation is expected to nearly triple from current volumes

• Waste management can be the single highest budget item for many local administrations in low-income countries, where it comprises nearly 20% of municipal budgets, on average

Waste DIspOsal arOUnD the WOrlD

Globally, the most popular form of waste disposal is still landfill

• 37% of waste is disposed of in some form of a landfill

• 8% of this is disposed of in sanitary landfills with landfill gas collection systems

• Open dumping accounts for about 33% of waste

• 19% of waste is recovered through recycling and composting

• 11% of waste is incinerated for final disposal

The bright side

• Nearly 70% of countries have established institutions with responsibility for policy development and regulatory oversight in the waste sector

• About two-thirds of countries have created targeted legislation and regulations for solid waste management

Source: World Bank – What a Waste 2.0: A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050

Waste management’s time to shine

Publisher Elizabeth Shorten

Editor Liesl Frankson

Managing editor Alastair Currie

Head of design Beren Bauermeister

Chief sub-editor Tristan Snijders

Sub-editor Morgan Carter

Contributors Heidi Gibson, Leon Grobbelaar, Lance McBain-Charles, William Meyers, Yasmine Miemiec, Logan Moodley, Jan Palm, Graham Payne, Kate Stubbs, Richard Win, Marc Wright

Client services & production manager

Antois-Leigh Botma

Production coordinator Jacqueline Modise

Financial director Andrew Lobban

Distribution manager Nomsa Masina

Distribution coordinator Asha Pursotham

Printers United Litho Johannesburg

Advertising sales Hanlie Fintelman

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Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa

Tel: +27 (0)11 675 3462

Email: gail@iwmsa.co.za

All material herein is copyright protected and may not be reproduced either in whole or in part without the prior written permission of the publisher. The views and opinions of authors expressed in the magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher, editor or the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa.

© Copyright 2019. All rights reserved.

A recent wave of labour disputes and municipal strikes related to the waste sector has brought many South Africans face to face with the important role the waste disposal and management industry plays.

All around the country, waste management is making an appearance in the headlines. Earlier this year, the SABC reported on the shocking state of Kimberley in the Northern Cape, noting that waste was piling up in the streets, ultimately affecting tourism in the town.

Similarly, news of rubbish blocking the entrance to a municipal dump site in Standerton, Mpumalanga, put the spotlight on the Lekwa Municipality, which has been accused of not maintaining the site and dumping rubbish next to one of the main routes to Secunda.

These waste incidents are not isolated to smaller municipalities, with major metros experiencing their fair share of challenges.

Late last year, a private waste removal company took the City of Tshwane to court after its dump trucks were turned away from a municipal dumpsite because of an outstanding bill, while eThekwini Municipality’s on-again offagain waste removal service has highlighted the tense relationship between the municipality and its waste workers.

One thing we know for sure is that the more waste matters make it into the mainstream media, the more people will come to realise that an effective waste management plan and a fully functional waste management service are just as important as the provision of clean water, safe roads and housing.

Raising the waste profile

Looking at the year ahead, we can only hope that while the negative stories continue to highlight the serious issues affecting our industry, we can come together and raise the profile of waste management in the country.

It is in this spirit that we take a look at some of the wonderful waste work taking place in some of our municipalities. This includes the City of Cape Town’s landfill gas-to-energy project at its Coastal Park Landfill (see page 24), or eThekwini Municipality’s groundbreaking conservation and community work at the Buffelsdraai Landfill Conservancy, on page 20.

We also take a look at the tyre recycling landscape in South Africa on page 31 and investigate whether there really is such a thing as ‘clean’ coal and what the country’s complicated relationship with fossil fuels for energy means for the environment on page 32.

As always, we bring you the latest in sustainability news from around the world on page 8 and share some exciting news from the IWMSA on page 10.

We can do this by showcasing and sharing the many success stories, achievements and innovations from within the sector that are set to reshape the South African waste landscape. Liesl

Frankson

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Having attended the KZN Branch Waste Awards at the end of 2018, I was pleasantly surprised by the initiatives undertaken by waste practitioners and the industry to work towards zero waste to landfill. Apart from this prestigious event hosted by the branch and ending 2018 on a high note, I would like 2019 to be remembered as a year in the history of the IWMSA filled with new challenges and change, to align ourselves with international standards.

Kneeling down in the starting blocks of 2019, we are focused, dedicated and committed to give it our all to achieve our set objectives.

Collaborating for success

The IWMSA started 2019 with a few objectives in mind and I am pleased to announce that we have been accepted as a national and country member for the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA). Our membership and participation will

Kneeling down in the starting blocks of 2019, we are focused, dedicated and committed to give it our all to achieve our set objectives

The year of relationship building

Leon Grobbelaar, president, IWMSA

May 2019 bring new happiness, new goals, new achievements and a lot of new inspiration to all of our members and readers. Wishing everyone a year loaded with blessings.

offer you, our member, added benefits and opportunities to grow and learn from only the best experts in the world. We, therefore, invite you to take advantage of the benefits offered by the ISWA, in order to broaden your horizons in the world of waste.

During the first half of the year, it is our intention to: finalise the new strategic vision for the Institute; conclude the process of moving closer to you, our members; and to take hands with the regulatory authorities, and other participating organisations, to provide a better and safer environment for the future generations.

We will collaborate with IFAT Africa in July this year, the first time in history, by hosting a Waste Pavilion, which will enable our members and patrons to participate and network with specialists from other countries and will be offering a number of master classes in waste management during this event, which should not be missed.

ISWA is a participating member of IFAT Africa and we will definitely use this opportunity to explore the relationship going forward and will lean heavily on their support.

Investments to unlock opportunity

We trust that 2019 will be the year for strengthening and building our relationship with the regulatory authorities and for them to recognise the IWMSA as a participating partner

Patron members of the IWMSA

by enforcing our waste regulations – not only for the private sector but also the public services in our country.

There is renewed interest by international waste management companies to invest in South Africa, which will offer new opportunities for South Africa in the international waste market.

It is my wish that environmentalists and waste practitioners report environmental crimes to the IWMSA, in order for these crimes to be investigated and to ensure that we cut down on the depletion and pollution of our resources.

Take hands and grow membership

We, as the IWMSA, should stand firm in our beliefs and focus on protecting the environment, through the correct education and training of our members.

I challenge our branches, the local authorities, individuals and industry to take hands in 2019, through active participation in growing our membership from 1 100 to at least 1 500 members.

We invite you to participate in IWMSA events and take full advantage of our ISWA membership and its benefits. Join us at the breakfast seminars planned in February to share your expectations and make your voices heard in order for us to look back proudly this time next year, having achieved our goals and objectives.

I look forward to meeting and working with you!

Waste management made for Africa

As a small company dealing with large projects internationally, Pasco Waste & Environmental Consulting has adopted an operating philosophy that allows

it to easily slot

in

with the communities of the world, especially those in Africa.

Established on 1 April 2000, Pasco Consulting specialises in waste management and environmental engineering. It operates based on a variety of business models that ultimately aim to harmonise the engineering world with the social and physical environment.

Looking back on the decision to establish the business, Pieter Smuts, owner and director of Pasco Waste & Environmental Consulting, says it was no April fool’s joke. “Working in the field of civil engineering is a balancing act, especially in the waste management sector. You need to not only deliver on the engineering service that people are dependent on but also be responsive to the inputs of the communities you work in and society at large,” he explains.

“Pasco Consulting, therefore, thrives on establishing waste management systems and facilities in locations where the need is recognised, working with people of all genders and races.”

Turning to the company’s service offering, Pieter notes that Pasco Consulting offers the full ambit of waste management services – from status quo assessments, gap analyses, waste management concepts, integrated waste management to

strategic development plans, including the costing and engineering designs of facilities such as transfer stations, recycling centres, landfills and incinerators.

With a target market that includes municipalities, governments and institutions in the public and private sector in South Africa and across the African continent, Pasco Waste’s flexibility enables the company to work effectively with large local and international consulting companies as well as smaller companies or sole proprietors.

Flexibility and customer service

This flexibility is also a key aspect in what Pieter believes sets the company apart from the competition. “We believe Pasco Consulting is a flexible and mobile company providing services to clients in distant locations, which broadens our horizons due to the willingness to expose ourselves to the unknown.

“With waste management services limited across Africa, we further derive satisfaction from sharing knowledge with the clients on the continent while simultaneously establishing much-needed waste management systems and facilities.

“The fact that we are a specialist niche company

ensures that we fully understand the issues at stake, building our knowledge base on a daily basis,” he asserts.

Niche know-how

While working in this niche market can be challenging from time to time, and what has kept Pasco Consulting in the game is society’s limited knowledge regarding waste management, which, according to Pieter, usually doesn’t extend past placing waste in a bin.

“It is almost as if the expression ‘out of sight, out of mind’ emanates from this industry. Most people are aware of the rubbish or garbage site, but what happens between the home and final disposal – even at the disposal site – remains a mystery to many. Nowadays, recycling has become a buzzword, yet very few know about the logistics and residual waste disposal,” he highlights.

“The development of facilities such as transfer stations and landfills is not just about the engineering development aspects – i.e. design, construction and commissioning – but includes operations and the associated training, as well as revisiting the projects to ensure the accomplishment of a client’s goals, such as environmental protection.

This is where Pasco presents its knowledge base through waste management logistics and environmental engineering,” Pieter explains.

Managing customer expectations

across the continent. “Perhaps our largest success story on the continent was the development of a fully fledged waste management system for the city of Monrovia, Liberia. This project created jobs and played a major role in both private and public sector development while developing waste collection transfer stations and landfills.”

Looking ahead

Looking ahead, Pieter is confident of Pasco Consulting’s future. In the short term, the company is aiming to strengthen its workload to pre-2018 levels, as the company – along with many others in the sector and the country alike – has been adversely affected by negative business sentiment.

Pieter also notes that although government is trying hard to support small businesses, all is not that simple at the coalface.

“The tendering system in South Africa has its own challenges. This has made it more difficult for small companies to compete. We have often proposed projects where people could be trained on the job as part of

“We are a flexible and mobile company providing services to clients in distant locations, which broadens our horizons due to being exposed to the unknown.”

In addition to flexibility and niche know-how, Smuts adds that the company’s approach to customer service and project planning is another distinguishing characteristic for Pasco Consulting.

“Our approach is to help our customers get what they want, knowing that we will ultimately get what we want. We realise that business is all about relationships, understanding one another’s expectations, and managing the project and client expectations right up to the commissioning of systems.

“Extensive hours are spent on projects to ensure products we take personal pride in, are delivered to clients. We service a variety of clients in many locations, which is as a result of the philosophy of not putting all your eggs in one basket.”

A strong African presence

Pasco Consulting through Pieter Smuts, has a strong presence on the African continent, having worked on a range of groundbreaking projects, including the development of a number of first sanitary landfills, in countries including Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Liberia, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland and Zambia.

The company has also established itself as a leader in waste characterisation assessments

the project scope and get paid at the same time. The reality is that client requirements seldom take this into account and thus the costing would not allow for competitive bids.”

Turning to medium-term goals, Pieter says he would like the company to revisit its historical projects to gain insight into the effects on sustainability and learn from those, aiming to pass the knowledge on to the younger generation in the business environment.

In the long term, Pieter notes that he still sees Pasco Consulting offering its best services such as waste management strategies, planning, environmental impact assessments, licensing and engineering, while addressing clients’ expectations.

“God willing, 2020 will be Pasco Waste’s 20th anniversary and we have been blessed with a steady flow of projects. We also hope that we can celebrate our 120th project during the year,” he concludes.

SUSTAINABILITY NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Putting waste on display in PE

Woodlands Dairy has partnered with the Colours of You SA (COYSA) collective to turn trash into a piece of art to communicate and highlight the beauty that comes from cleaning up your hood for good.

Launched recently, the artwork forms part of a billboard on Port Elizabeth’s R303 as motorists leave the N2 and enter Humansdorp, and is part the dairy’s “Clean up your hood for good” campaign.

“We wanted to involve local creatives to help us drive awareness about the benefits of cleaning up their neighbourhood,” remarks Tinus Pretorius, GM: Sales and Marketing, Woodlands Dairy/First Choice.

“We need to get the public’s attention when it comes to littering, and what better way than to use the rubbish that’s thrown away. It also gives people a taste of the amazing work from the Port Elizabeth arts community.”

The billboard forms a visual representation of how much beauty we can add to our surroundings if we just gave it a little care. Woodlands Dairy and COYSA hope that the public can become more environmentally aware and be inspired to do their part in cleaning up their hood for good; whether through recycling or getting creative.

The COYSA collective said of the project: “Thanks to the vast size of the billboard, we were able to experiment with the recognisable aesthetic of rubbish and use its texture, colour and scale.

“We’re grateful to have been given this opportunity and its great to be part of a campaign to prevent future pollution as well as providing us with creative ammunition to convey this powerful message and demonstrate the environmental frustration that exists.”

The billboard serves as creative ammunition to convey a powerful message as well as demonstrate the environmental frustration that exists

A new study by the University of British Columbia (UBC) has revealed that a simple online game can help educate players on how to separate waste correctly, with lasting effects.

The first-time study’s participants played the game, which was developed by researchers from UBC, and received immediate feedback on their sorting choices.

The second time they played, feedback was no longer provided; however, the participants still improved their average accuracy from 69% to 84%. Even when a week passed between games, players still improved their accuracy.

As part of the study, researchers also exposed students living in university

residences to the game, and then monitored their waste bins. The results showed both a slight reduction in contamination, defined as the presence of items that shouldn’t be in a particular bin, and an increase in compost weight.

“This immediate feedback increases recycling and composting accuracy over the longer term, both in the lab and in the field,” says Jiaying Zhao, assistant professor in UBC’s Department of Psychology and senior author of the study.

“One of the big questions in psychology is: how long do these effects last? Our biggest takeaways are the fact that immediate feedback works, and the effects last over time.”

Organic waste gets a new lease on life

In the interest of diverting organic waste from landfill and giving it a new lease on life through upcycling, South African organic compost provider Reliance recently introduced the Corona Organic Waste Processing Operations, situated at the Corona farm off the R312 between Durbanville and Paarl in the Western Cape.

The Corona Organic Waste Processing Operations processes organic waste from waste generators in a range of fields, including food processing, soft drinks, wine, juice, fresh produce markets, large corporate kitchens, shopping malls, supermarkets, bakeries, abattoirs and agriculture.

This waste is then transformed into a specialised compost product for the rehabilitation of soil – different to the pre-existing Reliance compost already on the market. The facility is also helping to create much-needed jobs.

To date, the company has offset over 1 million tonnes of carbon emissions. These carbon credits are sold to companies who want to offset their carbon footprints. In addition, income from the credits is used for social upliftment projects.

A simple online game can teach people to more accurately sort waste with lasting results

Researchers turn plastic waste into ultralight super material

Major retailers turn up the heat on plastic producers

Major retailers, egged on by public pressure, have turned up the heat on product suppliers, including PET plastics producers, to be more sustainable.

In light of this pressure, one of the country’s largest thermoform plastics producers recently signed on with voluntary PET extended producer responsibility body PETCO, in a bid to find a solution to recycling thermoform products like large sandwich and fruit trays.

Lightweight sandwich and fruit trays account for just under 20% of PET products nationwide. While thermoform products are not currently recycled in South Africa, a trend mirrored globally due to their complex make-up, the move by RPC Astrapak Thermopac indicates a shift in producer sentiment towards proactively seeking solutions to ensure the sustainability of their products and minimising environmental impacts.

Researchers from the National University of Singapore have found a way to turn plastic bottle waste into ultralight polyethylene terephthalate (PET) aerogels. The PET aerogels developed using plastic bottle waste – a world first – are soft, flexible, durable, extremely light and easy to handle.

They also demonstrate superior thermal insulation and strong absorption capacity. These properties make them attractive for a wide range of applications, such as for heat and sound insulation in buildings, oil spill cleaning, and also as a lightweight lining for firefighter coats and carbon dioxide absorption masks that could be used during fire rescue operations.

“Plastic bottle waste is one of the most common types of plastic waste and has detrimental effects on the environment. Our team has developed a simple, cost-effective and green method to convert plastic bottle waste into PET aerogels for many exciting uses,” explains Associate Professor Hai Minh Duong.

“One plastic bottle can be recycled to produce an A4-sized PET aerogel sheet. The fabrication technology is also easily scalable for mass production. In this way, we can help cut down the harmful environmental damage caused by plastic waste,” Duong continues.

The research team took two years (August 2016 to August 2018) to develop the technology to fabricate PET aerogels. This work was published in the scientific journal Colloids and Surfaces A in August 2018.

According to Professor Linda Godfrey, a researcher with the CSIR and PETCO board member, “RPC Astrapak Thermopac joining the PETCO voluntary Extended Producer Responsibility scheme is the next step towards fulfilling their responsibilities. It is a necessary and exciting step towards: creating new local end-use markets for PET thermoform recycling; supporting greater return of this resource into the South African economy, thereby creating new job opportunities; and, ultimately, reducing the leakage of these products into the environment.”

The Western Cape Provincial Government has established an official ban on all organic waste to landfill by 2027, of which 50% is targeted by 2022

A team led by researchers from the National University of Singapore has found a way to turn plastic bottle waste into ultralight PET aerogels

IWMSA joins International Solid Waste Association

The Institute of Waste management of Southern Africa (IWmSA) has started 2019 on a high note after officially being accepted as a national member of the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA).

Through this membership, IWMSA members will be able to join a global waste management network of over 100 000 professionals.

The ISWA describes itself as a global, independent and non-profit association, working in the public interest to promote sustainable, comprehensive and professional waste management.

“Being part of our association will offer unparalleled access to international organisations such as the UN Environment Programme, the World Health Organization, or the EU, where ISWA is an accredited association for waste matters,” notes Leon Grobbelaar, president, IWMSA.

“Through our working groups, we help these international organisations form policy by supplying technical papers and opinions regarding waste practices. Our organisation is also the only worldwide waste organisation, which allows you to network with professionals, companies and institutional representatives.”

Knowledge sharing and networking

One of the cornerstones of the ISWA is sharing experience, knowledge and information within its network of waste professionals, which may be one of the greatest benefits to members, who have unrestricted access to the ISWA member area.

The organisation’s pool of members features an enormous amount of expertise and knowledge on different aspects of waste management, from technical aspects to social, economic and legal aspects – unlocking a realm of opportunity for South Africa’s waste management sector.

ISWA memberships not only offer the benefit of being part of a huge global network of waste professionals, but also free online access to publications, member discount for ISWA events, and access to ISWA working groups and more.

National member benefits

According to the ISWA, national members form the core of the association. As a national member of the ISWA, you will be able to do a number of things, including:

• vote in the general assembly, which is comprised of the official representatives of all national members

• nominate candidates for national member representatives at the ISWA board

• propose the formation of a working group including the chair, to the scientific technical committee

• nominate individuals, companies or honorary members per internal group to serve on each working group

• nominate persons to serve as chairs of any internal group

• nominate candidates to be reginal development network member representatives at the ISWA board

• organise an ISWA World Congress

• co-organise events with ISWA, including Beacon Conferences, workshops, study tours, etc.

“Our membership and participation will offer you, our member, added benefits and opportunities to grow and to learn from only the best experts in the world. We, therefore, invite you to take advantage of the benefits offered by the ISWA, in order to broaden your horizons in the world of waste,” Grobbelaar concludes.

1970 1 400

The ISWA was founded in 1970

The association has members in more than 90 countries, with national member organisations in 40 countries

The ISWA has more than 1 400 members worldwide and some 100 000 members associated with its national member organisations

A jewel in the waste management crown

Following a name change and rebranding, 2019 means good-bye to Somkhanda Royal Sanitation and welcome to Royal Waste.

“The name Somkhanda Royal Sanitation was just too cumbersome and not memorable. So we decided to drop it and simplify things – hence Royal Waste was born,” says co-owner entrepreneur Velenkosini, who has come a long way from his humble Ingwavuma home in Northern KwaZulu-Natal.

Timed to coincide with the name change is the exciting announcement that Zandile, a qualified medical doctor, has joined the company as managing director, purchasing a 51% share in the company – effectively placing Royal Waste among the first black female-owned waste solutions companies in South Africa.

It makes perfect sense then that her first challenge will be to establish the company’s fully fledged Medical Waste Division – a sector most waste solution companies tend to shy away from.

“I am so excited to be part of the solution we can offer clients in the future. The establishment of the Medical Waste Division is almost like an extension of what is in my heart. First and foremost, I am a mother and having a child has brought home to me how important it is that we all learn to

Combine a keen business mind with a burning passion for the environment and you have a recipe for success. Royal Waste’s owners – husband and wife team Velenkosini and Dr Zandile Gumbi – are much more than your average waste solutions company, focusing their long-term vision on steady growth and expansion while never compromising on client satisfaction.

play a part in saving the environment, pay attention to making a difference in people’s lives, and build a better future together. Combined with my knowledge as a doctor, this will place the company at the forefront of this sector,” says Zandile.

The genesis

By Heidi Gibson

his employees is a commitment to honesty, trust, and high standards of integrity.

Customer-centricity

On the other side, having started out in the motor car sales industry, Velenkosini says he always knew he was going to be a business owner one day. He started Somkhanda Royal Sanitation in 2009 to supplement his income by supplying and servicing mobile toilets for events over weekends, realising that the sector held potential.

“Nobody was really interested in this dirty work. So I went back home and bought my first set of mobile toilets. Within a year, I had bought a honey sucker but the market became increasingly cluttered. I then moved back to Durban, where it struck me that the waste management sector was so much more. My eyes were opened to pollution and the situation in informal settlements. So the desire to do something more – that I had a part to play in finding a solution – was born in me,” says Velenkosini.

By 2011, Somkhanda Royal Sanitation was offering sanitation and hazardous liquid waste solutions involving the removal and disposal of trade effluent, sewage, landfill leachate, solvent and chemical waste, as well as heavy furnace oil in accordance with legislation and best practice.

In 2015, the company started offering specialised industrial cleaning solutions entailing high-pressure water jetting, heat exchanger and boiler cleaning, tank and silo cleaning, tube and pipe line cleaning, cold cutting, industrial vacuuming, and plant shutdown maintenance. Part of the ethos that Velenkosini has been striving to instil in the company and among

“We are a medium-size company, which is an advantage as we don’t have large reporting structures. We can make an instant decision and act on it quickly. Our turnaround time is excellent. Ultimately, Royal Waste is about serving the client and making sure that they are satisfied. It’s about seeing the smile on a happy client’s face,” insists Velenkosini.

“The customer is at the heart of what we do. We take the pressure off them, making sure waste removal and indutrial cleaning requirements are met, so that they can focus on their core business. We want to educate our clients, understand their needs, and engage with them, being mindful of the challenges out there.

Constantly learning and upskilling themselves, Velenkosini and Zandile are continuously striving to do, achieve and give more. Royal Waste is set to grow and expand to eventually offer an A to Z solution across the waste management sphere.

Royal Waste is a proud member of the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa and the UK-based Water Jetting Association.

Velenkosini and Dr Zandile Gumbi, owners, Royal Waste

Addressing SA’s urgent waste crisis

South Africa disposes of enough municipal solid waste to fill an entire football field, 10 m deep, daily. every one of its 57 million people generates up to 2.5 kg of waste per day, on average, depending on their income level. The Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa unpacks this impending crisis.

The disposal of such waste at properly licensed and compliant sanitary landfills is generally accepted as being a safe and economical option throughout the world.

South Africans generate roughly 54.2 million tonnes (Mt) of general waste per year, which includes municipal, commercial and industrial waste. Of this 54.2 Mt, a maximum

of only 10% is recycled or recovered for other uses, while at least 90% is landfilled or dumped. These statistics (2017) are among some of the more concerning insights reported in the latest and second draft of the first State of Waste Report (SoWR), issued by the Department of Environmental Affairs.

The report further highlights that approximately 94% of the 48 Mt of hazardous waste generated in 2017

was also directed to landfill sites. Hazardous waste types include mercury-containing, asbestoscontaining, brine, fly ash, waste oils, sewage sludge and materials considered as miscellaneous waste. These hazardous wastes generate a wide range of toxins that are hazardous to the environment and human life, and need to be carefully treated according to strict hazardous waste regulations.

54.2 Mt

South

Africans generate roughly 54.2 million tonnes of general waste per year, which includes municipal, commercial and industrial waste

Declining landfill standards

Metropolitan municipalities in Gauteng have not licensed a single new landfill facility for 24 years; during this time, we have lived under an illusion that we need to, and can feasibly, recover 70% of our municipal waste streams generated. The reality, on the other hand, is that our few remaining landfill sites are filling up and approaching closure at a rapid and increasing rate, and we are not replacing them with new landfills or implementing viable alternative waste disposal or recovery solutions. Sanitary landfilling is a generally accepted method of waste disposal throughout the world, as being an economical and safe option in the absence of economically viable alternatives. As the IWMSA, we have also witnessed a serious decline in the standard of landfill operation and management throughout South Africa, particularly at municipal level, which in turn creates a domino effect and contributes to the dwindling capacity and eventual closure of these facilities.

During the most recent biennial WasteCon2018 conference, hosted

at Emperors Palace in October 2018, the theme of ‘Implementing the Waste Hierarchy’ was extensively discussed and debated, with international experts and guest speakers sharing their experiences and best practice with South African environmental practitioners. But the reality is that South Africa is in a waste crisis that requires immediate attention and action.

Operating in crisis mode

Apart from eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality and the City of Ekurhuleni, most – if not all – other major cities and local municipalities across South Africa have no legal airspace left, are in serious trouble, and are generally operating in ‘crisis mode’. Not only do the majority of South African municipalities not comply with their regulatory obligations in terms of the operation of their landfills, but also with the gazetted norms and standards for the development of such facilities.

Generally, it will take any municipality at least five years to obtain a waste licence, and an additional 12 months for the construction of a new landfill facility, without any public opposition, which the City of Cape Town, among other municipalities, has learned over the past 20 years.

In an ideal world, various waste streams should be seen as a resource; however, there needs to be a viable commercial need for the resource or commodity. It can be said that South Africa is at least 15 years behind Europe in implementing the required resource recovery systems, which

15 years

For at least 15 years, there has been a ‘waste tsunami’ on the horizon, threatening our growing population, while we turn a blind eye towards this major risk

would create economically viable businesses and employment.

Various municipal and hazardous waste streams have significant calorific value and could be utilised in the generation of renewable energy, alleviating pressure on conventional power generation facilities, while at the same time providing part of a solution to the landfill crisis in South Africa. In reality, however, it will take any private or public entity at least 10 years to licence and construct a large-scale waste-to-energy facility in South Africa.

For years, South Africans have been fighting the poaching of rhinos and supporting various other honourable and worthwhile causes but, for at least 15 years, there has been a ‘waste tsunami’ on the horizon, threatening our growing population, while we turn a blind eye towards this major risk. A real concern is that we won’t even be able to pay for the problem to

go away, as we simply do not have enough licensed landfills or waste treatment facilities to accommodate the ever-growing wave of waste.

Acting decisively

The IWMSA has been highlighting these issues for years, and pleading with the regulatory authorities to take this crisis seriously. It is clear that simply releasing more legislation as a response to the crisis will not yield satisfactory results.

Should government act decisively on the waste crisis now, we will most likely only have a workable, sustainable solution in place within the next 10 years. From a waste perspective, South Africa is in self-destruct mode, and if recent history is anything to go by, we will be leaving nothing behind but significant air and water pollution for generations to come.

It is time that the pleas of the IWMSA and qualified, experienced

waste management practitioners be heard, and it is our challenge to the regulatory authorities to no longer ignore the stark reality and take hands with the IWMSA, develop a disaster management team, and act immediately.

The first step to recovery is recognition and admission of the problem at hand. We, as a society, need to admit that we have become complacent concerning the state of waste management and disposal in our country. Consumers and industry are all contributors to the current state of the public and private sector waste management industry. Our waste management industry as it stands is simply not able to keep up with the high and increasing volumes of waste generated as our population grows. We seriously need to look at adding to our current waste management infrastructure, which will ultimately help us manage our country’s waste in a sustainable way.

Hazardous Waste Solutions & Industrial Cleaning Solutions

Putting a price on compliance

The department of environmental Affairs commissioned Jpce (pty) Ltd, to conduct an assessment of the existing and required municipal solid waste management infrastructure within the five district municipalities of the Western cape. The aim was to determine the costs related to attaining and maintaining legal compliance and diversion targets.

By Jan Palm, Lance McBain-Charles and William Meyers

The study area included 24 local municipalities within the five district municipalities of the Western Cape, excluding the City of Cape Town, and required that all the existing solid waste infrastructure of each municipality be evaluated with regard to their available capacity and compliance.

All landfills, transfer stations, material recovery facilities, drop-offs, composting plants and any other infrastructure forming part of the municipal integrated solid waste management infrastructure system were included in the study,

A. For municipalities to achieve compliance with existing environmental authorizations, waste management authorisations, such as permits or licences

B. For municipalities to achieve waste diversion from landfill target of 20% by 2019

C. For municipalities to remain compliant with authorisations and targets up to 2030.

A. Complying with existing waste management licence

Infrastructure compliance and cost calculations

All municipal waste management facilities within the

five district municipalities of the Western Cape were visited to determine the on-site conditions and compare them with the specific requirements of legislation (e.g. authorisations, permits, licences).

The identified gaps were taken as the basis for the cost calculations and most of these gaps needed to be broken down into sub-items in order to accurately calculate cost estimates.

A bill of quantities was compiled for each site, as would be the case for a construction tender, and included the associated costs such as professional fees, contractor’s site

establishment (preliminary and general), and construction monitoring for the duration of construction.

In some cases, where infrastructure was not explicitly stipulated by the permit/licence, it was added to the cost, as it would be best practice to have this infrastructure – e.g. groundwater monitoring, boreholes – available.

The above gaps, their sub-items and associated costs were used to populate the bills of quantities and the unit rates were acquired from the latest construction tenders, quotes from other professionals and estimates by suppliers.

Closure and rehabilitation cost calculations

Almost all unlicensed waste disposal facilities, whether operational or closed, were issued with waste management licences (WMLs) in 2013/14 and most of the licences for closure stipulated a stringent capping design, since the licence applications did not include a detailed technical investigation.

For the purposes of this study, it was assumed that all closed waste sites would require a capping layer of low permeability, such as a compacted clay layer, and it was opted to replace the compacted clay layers with a geosynthetic clay layer (GCL), due to the uncertainty regarding the availability of suitable clay, and the high costs associated with importing it. A GCL requires a levelling layer below it to ensure integrity and prevent direct

a confinement layer on top to ensure even swelling of the bentonite.

Again, a bill of quantities was compiled for each site, including an allowance for the required design report and presentation to the Department of Water and Sanitation for approval of the capping design.

B: Achieving and maintaining the 20% diversion from landfill target by 2019

Philosophy

of integrated infrastructure requirements

This second phase of the solid waste infrastructure project of the Western Cape Department of Environment Affairs and Development Planning (DEA&DP) included reviewing the waste management system of the municipalities in terms of the current waste infrastructure and practices, in order to identify and calculate cost estimates for proposed new infrastructure to achieve diversion from landfill targets.

The main factors influencing the identification of possible new infrastructure requirements are listed below, although not all information is available up to the desired level of detail, in all locations.

Waste volumes and characterisation

One of the challenges identified was the lack

of accurate waste information volumes. Due to this challenge, it was decided to include the cost of one weighbridge per municipality under the costs for diversion.

The current waste disposal volumes are provided to the department’s Integrated Pollutant and Waste Information (IPWIS) information management system using a waste calculation sheet developed in-house at the DEA&DP. The waste calculator assumes estimated densities for various waste types delivered in compaction or non-compaction vehicles.

The options exist in the waste calculator to enter loads that are a quarter, half or threequarters full. The calculated volumes, or weights, of waste disposed of are mostly conservative, but relatively accurate, if utilised correctly.

Where municipalities do not submit their waste data to IPWIS, the waste volumes have been obtained from the latest Integrated Waste Management Plan (IWMP) of the relevant municipality.

The waste quantities in most of the IWMP’s have been calculated using population figures and per capita waste generation factors. Unfortunately, the population figures from StatsSA are given per voting ward and do not differentiate between urban and rural populations; since no municipality currently collects waste at all the farms within its boundaries, there is a degree of inaccuracy in this method as well.

Fortunately, some of the municipalities have installed weighbridges at their disposal facilities,

providing accurate weights of waste disposed. The waste volumes that are currently diverted are not readily available due to the fact that not all volumes are reported to the municipality. Where the municipality is actively involved in diversion activities, the volumes are generally recorded, either weighed or measured by volume; but where the private sector is responsible for the diversion, the diverted volumes or weights are often not reported, even though a number of municipal by-laws request that the data be submitted to the municipality.

A further challenge was the statistical confidence of the waste characterisation studies that have been conducted to date. The DEA&DP commissioned an external service provider in 2007 to conduct waste characterisation studies in all five district municipalities, mainly at the existing landfills, and although the results provided a valuable insight, the characterisation consisted of too few samples and over too short a period to provide statistical confidence.

Available technologies for diversion

Various technologies are available internationally to divert waste from landfill and the final choice of technology or technologies to be implemented are determined by the local conditions, waste volumes and waste composition.

The most common perception is that recovery for recycling is the ‘best’ form of diversion, but it is not necessarily the most effective option in all scenarios. Due to various local conditions that influence diversion options, it is clear that each situation is unique and that an integrated approach is preferable – i.e. diversion will, in all cases, be optimised through the application

of a number of technologies and, in some cases, even by the sharing of resources and/or infrastructure.

Technologies, in order of ease of operation and simplicity, which can be considered:

landfills, all these landfills should have reached capacity already. The study did not include the licensed extended footprint at Bredasdorp.

Some landfills have regular remaining airspace calculations, either as part of the municipalities’ IWMPs or as part of the external auditing, including: Karwyderskraal (Overberg; 2072), Gansbaai (2031), Highlands (Malmesbury; 2048), Worcester (2019), Caledon (2016), Tulbagh and Wellington (2021), and Stellenbosch (2019). Most of these sites will require new cells to be developed in order to ensure sufficient airspace up to 2030.

Three new regional landfills have also received their licences, but have not yet been constructed. These are the new regional landfills to serve the Matzikama and Cederberg municipalities in the West Coast District; the Langeberg, Breede Valley and Witzenberg municipalities in the Cape Winelands District; and the Bitou, Knysna, George, Mossel Bay and Hessequa municipalities in the Eden District.

• recovery of materials of value for recycling

• recovery of garden waste for mulching or composting

• recovery of construction and demolition waste by crushing

• recovery of food waste for composting

• recovery of all organic waste for anaerobic digestion

• recovery of all remaining waste for direct combustion.

C. Additional infrastructure to remain compliant up to 2030

Disposal airspace requirements

The waste disposal facilities or landfills that have long-term capacity – i.e. beyond 2030 – have to be monitored with respect to their available airspace to ensure that new cells are constructed before the additional airspace is needed.

A study was commissioned by the DEA&DP in 2012 to determine the available airspace at nine landfills in the Western Cape – i.e. Vaalkoppies (Beaufort West), Laingsburg, Prince Albert, Oudtshoorn, Steynkloof(Riversdale), Ladismith, Bredasdorp, Bontebok (Swellendam) and Van Rhynsdorp – indicating that except for the Bontebok (Swellendam; at capacity in 2019) and Grootkop (Oudtshoorn; at capacity in 2038)

One of the critical factors in determining the available and required future airspace at all landfills is the accuracy of the waste quantities. Where landfills do not have weighbridges installed, the estimated waste quantities vary considerably.

Supporting infrastructure to access regional landfills

Since three new regional landfills that are already licensed are yet to be established, the contributing municipalities must make provision for infrastructure, mainly storage and transport infrastructure, in order to get the waste from the various towns within these municipalities to the respective regional landfill. A number of transfer facilities and public drop-off facilities are, therefore, to be established up to 2030.

Priority scheduling of infrastructure Guide to priority scheduling

In order to determine priority scheduling for the required waste management infrastructure, a number for general guidelines had to be set, including the following:

• Infrastructure required for compliance with operational licences was given preference over infrastructure required for decommissioning licences.

• Some of the statutory processes required for the establishment of infrastructure have a fixed duration in order to be compliant with the applicable municipal or national legislation.

• The following approximate construction durations have been considered to be the approximate norm: rehabilitation of landfill

– nine months; construction of landfill cell – nine months; construction of a material recovery facility – nine months; construction of a transfer station – six months; construction of composting facility – four months; construction of drop-off – three to four months depending on type of containers; and construction of chipping areas – three months.

• The infrastructure required for the 2019 diversion target was taken to be commissioned at the latest on 31 July 2019, thereby allowing five months to become fully operational and achieve the required diversion before the end of 2019.

• It was assumed that before a landfill could be closed, the infrastructure replacing such a landfill – i.e. a transfer station or drop-off –has to be constructed.

• A WML for the decommissioning of a landfill has stipulated dates for when decommissioning must commence and end. These dates were taken into consideration

and where the commissioning dates were difficult to achieve with realistic scheduling, the end date was given preference. In such cases, the competent authority will have to be notified in accordance with the conditions of the WML.

• It was assumed that a municipality would only commit to one construction project at any one time, except when there were two separate sub-schedules – one for compliance and one for diversion. It was, therefore, possible that infrastructure for compliance be built at the same time as infrastructure for diversion.

• It was assumed that all sites that received an operation-until-closure WML, and sites that have a condition in their operating WML that they may only be operated until the available airspace has been depleted, will reach capacity before 2030.

• In the scheduling process, all activities except those with a date constraint have been set to be conducted ‘as soon as possible’.

For each municipality, a schedule was prepared following the above principles and the estimated cash flows were evenly spread over the various durations to create a projected annual cash flow for capital expenditure from 2017 until 2030 for each municipality in each of the five districts.

The information from the this study is intended to inform the Integrated Development Plans and Integrated Waste Management Plans of the various Municipalities and to assist the Solid Waste Managers of the various Municipalities in their planning.

In conclusion this study is providing the Municipalities with the cost implications with regard to Solid Waste Management Infrastructure of migrating up the waste hierarchy.

For the full version of this paper, including a reference list, contact authors Jan Palm or William Meyers at info@jpce.co.za, or Lance McBain-Charles at lance.mcbain-charles@ westerncape.gov.za.

• Waste Collection Optimisation

• Waste Transfer Station design

• General Waste Landfill design

• Hazardous Waste Landfill design

• Landfill Rehabilitation

• Landfill Auditing and Monitoring Contact Numbers Telephone:+27 (0)21 982 6570 Fax:+27 (0)21 981 0868

• Landfill Closure

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• Regional Waste Studies

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• Alternative Technologies for Waste Reduction

• Integrated Waste Management Plans

The legacy of a digital age

rapid technological innovation, mass production and reduced costs have driven an electronic revolution around the world that has improved the lives of many; however, as access to electronic devices increases, electronic and electrical waste is fast reaching unprecedented levels. By Liesl Frankson

Arecent report by the World Economic Forum has revealed that electronic waste (e-waste) is now the fastestgrowing waste stream in the world. While it is challenging to determine how many electrical and electronic goods are produced annually, it is possible that the number now exceeds the global human population, based on the number of devices connected to the internet.

According to the report, which was unpacked at the 2019 gathering of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the world produces more e-waste every year than the weight of all commercial jet planes ever built.

Defined as anything with a plug, electric cord or battery, e-waste represents only 2% of solid

waste streams. At first glance, this may seem meagre; however, the reality is that e-waste can represent 70% of the hazardous waste that ends up in landfills.

“Globally, society only deals with 20% of e-waste appropriately and there is little data on what happens to the rest, which, for the most part, ends up in landfill, or is disposed of by informal workers in poor conditions,” the report, entitled A New Circular Vision for Electronics, notes.

This has become a major issue for Africa, in particular, which has become a ‘dumping site’ for e-waste, despite the export of e-waste to developing countries being regulated by the Basel Convention on the Control of

Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.

“The illegal movement of e-waste from developed countries to developing countries is a major global challenge,” the report explains.

“In total, 1.3 million tonnes of discarded electronic products are exported from the European Union in an undocumented way every year. There is a complex web of transshipment ports so that e-waste avoids detection by authorities.”

The e-waste opportunity

As much as e-waste is becoming a serious problem, it also represents a major opportunity. E-waste is rich in valuable materials like gold, silver, copper, platinum and palladium. According

4 500

The amount of e-waste produced annually around the globe is equivalent to 4 500 Eiffel Towers.

30%

In many countries, women and children comprise up to 30% of the workforce in informal, crude e-waste processing and are therefore particularly vulnerable.

14%

By 2040, the production and use of electronics will cause 14% of total emissions.

to the report, there is 100 times more gold in a tonne of smartphones than in a tonne of gold ore. “The earth’s richest deposits of valuable materials are sitting in landfill sites or people’s homes.

“The latest forecasts show that e-waste is worth US$62.5 billion (R850 billion) annually, which is more than the GDP of most countries. It is also worth three times the output of all the world’s silver mines.” However, to take advantage of the opportunity’s available in the e-waste sector, a new vision for the production and consumption of electronic and electrical goods is needed – one that focuses on the promotion of a circular economy.

The economic benefits of employing a circular economic model in the electronics and electrical sector could be enormous. A circular model for electronics could reduce the costs for consumers by 7% by 2030, and 14% by 2040.

As e-waste continues to grow as a resource, and scarcity and price fluctuations arise for certain minerals and materials, there is a growing argument for the recovery of these resources.

“In many countries, e-waste entrepreneurs and cooperatives of e-waste workers are expanding e-waste recycling operations and experimenting with new and inclusive business models for managing e-waste effectively. These have already generated thousands of decent jobs in safe conditions for what were formerly informal workers in the e-waste value chain.”

The South African story South Africa has been successfully recycling

electronic waste for up to 25 years, with a wellestablished formal recycling sector.

However, Keith Anderson, representative from the e-Waste Association of South Africa (eWASA), notes that this is limited to only around seven players nationally, which collectively recycle approximately 25 000 tonnes of e-waste per year.

This highlights the reality that the country is still in its infancy in terms of emerging enterprises and entrants into the e-waste recycling market.

At present, the majority of South Africa’s e-waste is being exported, with the country losing out on the economic potential of an entire waste stream.

A study conducted by the CSIR, the Department of Science and Technology, and research and

development organisation Mintek found that approximately 90% of printed circuit boards and 80% of plastic recovered from e-waste in the country are exported for reprocessing.

This happens mainly because the country does not have the required processing technology on a large scale.

In an effort to curb the export of e-waste – and the loss of jobs, resources and foreign exchange that comes with the practice – eWASA has partnered with local technological experts to take the locally available technology and develop it into a solution to help extract maximum value from used PC boards and other e-waste streams that require specialist treatment and beneficiation.

Radical landfill transformation

a few of the pressures faced when trying to achieve a sustainable city.

By Logan Moodley, Marc Wright, Graham Payne and Richard Winn

With such pressures come increases in waste generation, which place added strain on existing waste management systems to become resilient in moving towards “cleaner Africanised solutions”.

South Africa’s most reliable waste management option at present is still landfilling, despite the implementation of modern waste management solutions, and consideration must be given from a technical and practical viewpoint that landfills cannot be totally eliminated from any waste management system as there will always be wastes that cannot be feasibly avoided or treated.

The eThekwini Municipality’s Department of Cleansing and Solid Waste (DSW) successfully obtained arguably the first landfill conservancy in Africa for the Mariannhill Landfill Site in 2002 and it is from these roots that focus was placed on improving newer landfills like the Buffelsdraai Landfill to higher levels other than that of conservancy.

DSW partnered with the Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department (EPCPD) of the eThekwini municipality and focused on an innovative approach to move away from traditional engineering to sustainable green engineering practical solutions.

This paper describes the Buffelsdraai Flagship Landfill Conservancy, which includes environmentally conscious engineering and using landfills as living tools for local skills development, education awareness and community outreach.

2. Brief site description and overview

2.1 Location and climate

The Buffelsdraai landfill site serves for general waste disposal in the central to northern regions of the eThekwini Municipality and is located approximately 6 km west of Verulam. The site covers a north-facing valley, which drains the catchment into the Black eMhlasini stream some 6 km west of the convergence with the Umholti River.

The landfill site lies within the transitional zone of Coastal Forest and Thornveld and experiences a sub-tropical climate with conditions similar to Durban. The mean temperature of the area is 20.4°C, with a maximum in the upper thirties and a minimum of 10°C. The mean annual rainfall can be expected to be in the order of 900 mm to 1 000 mm per annum and prevailing wind directions for the site are typically south westerly and north easterly.

2.2 Site overview

DSW as part of its strategic planning, undertook an extensive process for the identification of window areas for future landfill sites in the eThekwini area. As a result, the process led to the acceptance of the Buffelsdraai Landfill Site, which superseded the city’s La Mercy Landfill in May 2006. The total land acquisition is some 887 ha, of which 100 ha consists of the landfill footprint and the balance of 787 ha makes up the buffer zone. The site was originally conceived as a general landfill site in accordance with the Minimum Requirements for Waste Disposal, 2nd edition, GLB+ where significant leachate generation is expected. The landfill was initially lined in accordance with the Minimum

Requirements and more recently with a single composite lining in accordance with a classification ‘B’ Landfill as detailed in the Norms and Standards for Disposal of Waste to Landfill as gazetted on 23 August 2013.

Landfill initial waste tonnages were recorded at some 400 tonnes/day of general waste for the first ten years of operation. However, this was always anticipated to increase following the decommissioning of the city’s central Bisasar Road Landfill Site which occurred in 2016. Nowadays, the site receives some 1 000 tonnes/ day of general waste, the bulk of which is hauled in from the Electron Road Transfer Station, making it one of Durban’s busiest landfills. The landfill is developed in a phased approach comprising a series of separate cells. The lining initially commenced in

Logan Moodley, Pr Eng, eThekwini Municpality, Department of Cleansing and Solid Waste

An aerial view of the Buffelsdraai Landfill Conservancy Site

the various side valleys, eventually approaching the main valley, and collectively has a projected airspace of approximately 40 m3 x 106 m3, banking landfill security in the north of the eThekwini Metro for practically 70 years.

Given the extent of the site’s detailed development, it was decided to simplify the phased development into two stages. Stage 1 was based on the first four cells and stability berm, a Leachate Treatment Plant (LTP) with associated leachate and contaminated stormwater ponds covering half of the valley catchment.

Stage 2 extends to the full footprint of the site with added leachate, contaminated stormwater and final stability berm works. The first phase of the works involved the site main access road, basic site infrastructure and cell 1 with a 2 million m3 lined capacity. The site was previously home to a sugar cane farm and contained several structures such as buildings, workshops and a borehole water purification facility, which was “reused” by the city. Figure 1 provides the site’s layout and cell development.

3. The need for landfill adaptive change

Existing landfill sites are under extreme airspace capacity constraints as siting new landfills is becoming more restrictive, mainly due to rigid environmental compliances and general public perception that waste disposal sites are unacceptable.

In the context of a large city like Durban, the eThekwini Municipality must contend with multiple challenges such as poverty and unemployment,

for radical change towards flexibility and resilience for sustainable solutions.

3.1 Baseline model status quo protection

The eThekwini DSW is renowned both locally and internationally for its innovative approach to landfill management where waste disposal operations are integrated with landfill rehabilitation during the operational life of the landfill site and, as such, the principles from the Marianhill Landfill Conservancy model were immediately implemented at the Buffelsdraai Landfill site as a best practice model.

These include:

• Local Endemic Indigenous: All seed sources of flora from the landfill footprint and buffer zone

into Environmental Management Programme’s (EMPr’s) and the PRUnit has led the industry in this regard. Importance is placed on transferring the rescued species at once, which allows for the least ecological disturbance and makes the reestablishment process for adaptation less demanding.

• Rehabilitation Nursery Practice: Where it proves impractical to relocate any flora to a new final area, they can be rehabilitated on-site through environmental asset management processes to maintain and harden off (meaning rehabilitate and/or acclimatise) species for transfer either into the footprint or buffer zone. The nursery practice can further support propagation of seedlings either from seeds or cuttings to grow local environmental equity over time.

Outputs from the above naturalistic green engineering concepts have proven to support and integrate into landfill best practices such as rehabilitation post capping, long-term vegetative screening for wind scatter and fire break control.

3.2 Buffelsdraai Landfill systems improvement

The objective for the landfill was to implement a long-term sustainable project that would address climate change, improve environmental degradation and create sustainable links with local previously disadvantaged community members to earn, promote job creation and skills development.

The land use management of a large buffer zone neighbouring on the rural outskirts posed a risk of human settlement encroachment and, therefore, engagement with the local community commenced to ensure education of the landfill hazards, which was realised using the PRUnit process by local community members.

3.3 Formulation of partnerships

In order to ensure structured interventions to better improve the land management and provide wider benefits for the local community, the DSW needed a partner with a common interest to develop programmes for adaptation planning and implementation. After many years of networking

with the eThekwini Municipality’s Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department (EPCPD), there was an initial opportunity to sink carbon.

Buffelsdraai Landfill was selected as a suitable site to sink carbon among all other sites mainly due to the working model in adopting best practices and active restoration ecology and the community engagement were well established.

The underlying principle of the project, apart from the community benefits, was to plant naturally occurring forests in old sugar cane farmed land that has limited productive capacity. It was thereafter realised that the potential for carbon reduction was far greater if there could be a partnership to secure the entire 800 ha buffer zone.

A local non-profit organisation, the Wildlands Conservation Trust, was appointed by EPCPD through its Indigenous Trees for Life programme (tree-preneurs) to support with implementing the reforestation.

3.4 Tree-preneur process

The Wildlands tree-preneur process encourages local unemployed people to collect indigenous seedlings, which are propagated at local homestead level and this process demonstrates the role of natural ecosystems in influencing the livelihoods and resilience of previously disadvantages people.

Local facilitators are appointed to identify seeds and people for specific projects, and the local community is then placed on a database and produce trees for specific projects. These are planted in reused bottles, which clean up the local area and thereafter are recycled.

This mass of trees naturally sink the carbon, clean the local air and clean up any waterways before releasing into the environment. The treepreneur process, as described in Figure 3 below, has been proven to be effective in local community adaptation works. Moreover, Community Based Adaptation (CBA) and Ecosystems Based Adaptation (EBA) are embraced for socio-economic benefits: poverty alleviation, food security, biodiversity improvements.

The initiative is linked to the Buffelsdraai Landfill Monitoring Committee and the focus further supports education and outreach efforts to develop entrepreneurial skills, learning opportunities on climate change as well as waste management.

4. Progressive improvements

The Buffelsdraai Landfill Site commenced operation in May 2006 based on the best practices developed at the Marianhill Landfill Conservancy Site model. The trees and plants used for the initial screening of the landfill footprint were rescued from site using the PRUnit process.

An indigenous rehabilitation nursery was set up in 2004 and expanded by 2006 to flow into the DSW’s environmental asset recovery operating procedures. Natural recovered ‘green assets’ such as topsoil and rocks from areas under construction on the landfill footprint were rescued for further use.

The best practice approach detailed at the site’s Monitoring Committee (MC) led to the vision of developing the site progressively towards environmental excellence. The change in mindset using the landfill as an alternative pathway to enhance waste management integration through building social capital and sustainable development can be best described as the landfill transformation trajectory from the current state to the new positive future.

4.1 The Buffelsdraai Landfill Conservancy (BLC)

As early as the site opening in 2006, the

Labour for the Buffelsdraai Landfill Conservancy Site and Reforestation Project is sourced from the poorest local communities to increase economic activities in these communities while providing a means to deliver social and skills development programmes

Buffelsdraai Landfill MC took a decision in the best interest of all interested and affected parties to include in the Terms of Reference to work towards the establishment of a Landfill Conservancy.

The objective was to manage the site’s natural resources in an environmentally sustainable manner without necessarily altering the land use properties. The creation of the conservancy was guided by the requirements as set out by the provisional conservation authority – i.e. Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife (EKZNW).

Figure 4 illustrates the phased approach in taking back degraded areas of the landfill property for ensuring a best practice conservancy model.

The Buffelsdraai Landfill site successfully received its registration as a conservancy after some 10 years of best practice improvements and ecosystems restoration, which was recognised in October 2016.

5. Engineering design re-modelling

The continuously increasing waste generation across the city, coupled with increasing legislative compliances and concerns arising from the

FIgurE 3 The Tree-Preneur process flow

FIgurE 4 Buffelsdraai Landfill Site – phased land reforestation and adaptation

general public view of landfill sites, escalated the requirement for waste management strategies and engineering solutions to be closely integrated for environmental sustainability.

The experience at the BLC can be argued to have appreciated landfill chemical, physical and biological processes with the environment as well as the social and financial implications of not improving the way sites are designed and operated.

5.1 Leachate treatment to leachate management

The Buffelsdraai Landfill engineering design allowed, from the onset of the site, the establishment of a leachate treatment plant (LTP). However, prior to the establishment of an LTP, leachate was conveyed from cells to a leachate collection system – i.e. lined tanks/ponds – for off-site treatment.

The concept of the LTP is based on an aerobic process in a Sequence Batch Reactor (SBR) and considered favourable when linked to a closedloop process whereby contaminants arising from the degradation of waste are contained, treated and reused back onto the landfill, typically for dust suppression and/or irrigation to rehabilitated/ vegetated areas.

5.2 Landfill gas

The extraction and utilisation of methane (CH4) emitted from landfills offers an opportunity to significantly reduce these emissions while creating a valuable energy resource. However, the first line of defence and best practice has been to install a landfill gas (LFG) extraction system to combat potential off-site migration and treatment from a health and safety perspective. The DSW has established the first phase of the project through LFG extraction equipment and gas well installations within the waste body, rendering the delivery of some 100 Nm3/h for destruction in a flare, which will continue to be supplemented as part of the site development plan.

This potent LFG is conveyed to an on-site flare where the methane is converted to carbon dioxide, which is some 26 times less harmful a greenhouse gas than methane. The second

phase of the project is intended to establish a landfill gas cleaning/conditioning plant to upgrade the landfill gas to equivalent vehicular fuel quality for use in selected DSW fleet.

6. Incremental change results

6.1 Environmental asset performance

The PRUnit process and concepts have been implemented in excess of a decade yet there has been limited data actually documenting the success of the best practice approach. Therefore, this marks the beginning in recording the environmental production achieved on the various landfill sites.

On average, PRUnit processes some 4 300 bags of plants per year while the endemic indigenous nursery propagates approximately 6 300 bagged species per year.

6.2 Buffer zone performance

The Buffelsdraai Landfill Reforestation project set out to offset the carbon footprint as a host city to 2010 Soccer World Cup. An estimated 307 208 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) was calculated to be sequestrated at a required production of approximately 1 000 trees planted per hectare into the buffer zone.

6.3 Future adaptation –secondary reforestation

In June 2015, the primary carbon sink forest structure implementation was complete. In February 2016, the Secondary Reforestation process began. This is currently in progress and will be implemented over approximately the next ten years with specific focus over the first six years at an installation average of 40 000 plants per 100 ha worked.

7. Conclusion

Even some 10 years later, BLC is the only project of its kind in the eThekwini Municipality to receive numerous best practice awards and testifies the upward trajectory towards flexibility and resilience for sustainable solutions.

It can be concluded that the Buffelsdraai Landfill is radically transforming and will progressively enhance to a state of ultimate transformation!

For the full version of this paper, including a reference list, contact Logan Moodley, Department of Cleansing and Solid Waste, at Logan.Moodley2@durban.gov.za; Marc Wright, Department of Cleansing and Solid Waste, at Marc.Wright@ durban.gov.za; Graham Payne, TGC Engineers, at Graham@ tgcengineers.co.za; or Richard Winn, Environmental Consultant, Landscaper and Nurseryman, at richardwinn@worldonline.co.za.

Lifting the status of landfill gas

The uS environmental protection Agency has noted that if we do nothing differently, methane emissions from municipal solid waste will increase globally by around 19% above 1990 levels by the year 2050. This increase is expected to take place largely in developing countries.

By Liesl Frankson

With that in mind, it comes as no surprise that forward-thinking South African municipalities like the City of Cape Town have started investing in gas extraction and flaring systems at some of its landfills. The systems will not only help dispose of the flammable constituents in landfill gas safely but also assist in controlling odour nuisance, health risks and adverse environmental impacts.

Early last year, the City of Cape Town’s Department of Solid Waste Management launched a landfill gas flaring project at the Coastal Park landfill facility. Cllr Xanthea Limberg, MMC: Informal Settlements, Water, Waste Services and Energy at the City of Cape Town, says the project, which is now in operation at three separate landfill sites in the city, is just one of many aimed at helping Cape Town reduce its carbon footprint from municipal infrastructure and services.

The facility consists of 49 wells‚ each with a perforated pipe sunk about 20 m into the garbage to withdraw the gases

The project also forms part of a larger vision spurred by the signing of the Kyoto Protocol.

“Following the signing of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, the City of Cape Town, like many other South African local authorities, explored various clean development mechanism (CDM) projects.

“CDM is a mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol, which allows developing countries to implement approved carbon-offsetting projects, which developed countries may invest in by purchasing ‘carbon credits’. Landfill gas extraction, destruction and beneficial use were among the projects investigated,” Limberg notes.

Offsetting carbon emissions

As organic matter disposed of in landfills decomposes anaerobically, in the absence of oxygen, it forms a landfill biogas that is rich in methane. The process put in place at the Coastal Park landfill facility, and others across the city, destroys this methane, which has a global warming potential approximately 21 times greater than carbon dioxide.

“Not only does this offset carbon emissions, but methane, as a highly combustible gas, can be converted and collected for use as a fuel in industry, to generate electricity or as a fuel for vehicles,” Limberg explains.

Xanthea Limberg, MMC: Informal Settlements, Water, Waste Services and Energy at the City of Cape Town, stands in front of the City’s Coastal Park landfill gas facility.

Turning to technology, Limberg notes that the Coastal Park Landfill Gas facility consists of 49 gas extraction wells drilled vertically to depths of up to 20 m into the existing waste pile.

“There are also some 2 km of perforated pipes laid horizontally in the waste for the collection of landfill gas. At the flaring compound, a blower provides the vacuum required to extract the gas from the landfill and lead it to the flare for destruction,” she explains.

Limberg adds that, since commissioning and as at 27 November 2018, the site’s recorded methane destroyed is 73 759 tonnes of CO2e.

Fuelling the future

Looking at the goals for the facility, Limberg says that, in the short term, the City seeks to minimise greenhouse gas emissions and achieve best practice with respect to landfill gas management. In the long term, the City is looking at the recovery of gas and the generation of electricity.

“The City intends on using the energy largely as a fuel for the generation of electricity and a follow-up project for the conversion of the landfill gas into electricity is currently in the tender stage. By using the fuel recovered from the landfill for electricity generation, the City can achieve additional operating cost savings by reducing bulk electricity purchases,” she says.

She adds: “The projects are likely to produce approximately 1 MW of energy, based on estimates, and are dependent on the volumes

Landfill gas (LFG) at a glance

• LFG is approximately 50% to 55% methane and 40% to 45% carbon dioxide. the balance is made up of other compounds, including nitrogen and oxygen

• Approximately 0.2% to 0.5% LFG is composed of complex organic compounds that are not degraded by the microbial bugs within the landfill

• A small percentage of LFG is composed of hydrogen sulfide and other sulfur compounds that give LFG its unpleasant odour

• Appreciable amounts of LFG begin to generate in a landfill within approximately one to three years, depending on the type of garbage, amount of moisture, and other factors

• Peak production of LFG is five to seven years after the garbage was dumped

Figures according to the US EPA, 2000

legal and other challenges, the conventional design and construction methodology eventually adopted went relatively smoothly,” Limberg says.

The only other challenge the municipality had to contend with during the construction and development of the project was theft and vandalism of the infrastructure. “Some of the most important lessons learned on this project were that long lead times are required since the components are imported and, most importantly, that protecting the infrastructure is imperative and must be carefully accommodated in the design to ensure smooth implementation,” she notes.

Laying the groundwork

Limberg believes that facilities and projects like these are important for South Africa and the waste industry as a whole. “It is of immense importance that all spheres of government work continually to explore methods of environmental damage mitigation.

“Global warming is one of the key factors driving climate variability and, ultimately, climate change – the effects of which are already being felt acutely in the Western Cape. The destruction of this greenhouse gas, which is a major contributor to global warming, assists not only the City but contributes to national climate change mitigation goals,” Limberg highlights.

“This project has been years in the making and required extensive work to be done by officials

Town

The Coastal Park facility is both a landfill gas extraction and flaring project

Collective accountability to clean up SA

Initiatives such as clean-up and recycle SA Week are great measures to raise awareness on South Africa’s conundrum of sending waste to landfill versus recycling. By

Kate Stubbs

However, the message needs to be far clearer. Government, corporate South Africa and individual citizens all have a role to play, and strong focus needs to be placed on driving collective accountability if we are to reduce landfilling and increase the recycling of waste in the country.

The current status quo

Looking at the current state of waste management in the country, it is clear that landfilling remains the most common method of solid waste disposal, and South Africa is lagging far behind other developed and developing economies in terms of recycling. In fact, reports indicate that the country is only recycling 10% of the 108 million tonnes of waste generated annually. It is also estimated that last year, R17 billion of waste was disposed of to landfill that could have been infused back into the economy by means of recycling, repurposing and reusing.

These statistics are startling, but what is perhaps more shocking is the knowledge that without immediate interventions to change how we manage recyclable versus disposable waste, the country will be facing a massive waste

management crisis. For example, without drastic change from diverting waste from landfill, it is estimated Johannesburg will run out of landfill space in less than 10 years.

Of course, if we are to change the current status quo around recycling, we need to understand that such an initiative will require buy-in, involvement, collaboration and participation at all levels of society. The willingness to change behaviours is often the hardest thing to secure, but it can be done.

While a complete culture change towards recycling and waste management won’t be achieved overnight, if we look at the water crisis, particularly in the Western Cape, there are two key lessons here: (1) behaviour change can certainly be achieved when faced with a looming crisis, but perhaps more importantly, and (2) the environmental impacts can be slowed and reversed if we proactively change behaviour –and before the situation becomes critical.

Legislation has a leading role to play

Over the past several years, new legislation has been developed to support more environmentally

Kate Stubbs, director: Business Development and Marketing, Interwaste

friendly and sustainable waste management processes, including to improve the disposal of waste to landfill and, more importantly, to encourage the waste industry to seek alternative solutions.

One of the most significant developments has been the prohibition of certain waste streams from landfill disposal as from 2013 – with additional waste streams falling into this prohibition on an annual basis. It is imperative that local industry stakeholders be aware of this legislation and take the necessary steps to comply. Critically, these prohibitions represent an opportunity to seek alternative and more sustainable waste management solutions, and create a more efficient waste economy in South Africa.

The national government has also put policies in place to support the implementation of the new legislation and to divert certain waste from ending up at landfill sites. An example of this is the National Waste Management Strategy, launched by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) to promote waste minimisation, reuse, recycling and recovery of waste, among others. Government is, therefore, trying to establish a more uniform way to ensure all public and private sector entities and citizens recycle their reusable products, as far as possible, and contribute to national recycling initiatives and programmes.

Another programme that will lend great support to the National Waste Management Strategy is the initiative launched by the City of Johannesburg in July this year making it legally compulsory to separate at source. This is a prime example of the types of policies, structures and systems that cities and local municipalities across the country are going to need to begin instituting and implementing, in support of and in order to adhere to national legislation.

And, although the logistics of the City of Johannesburg’s programme are still being finalised and it will be rolled out in a staged approach, the ideal is that every household and public and private sector entity will take its fair share of accountability. This means ensuring that they separate their waste at their residence/buildings, using colour-coded plastic

bags – such as blue for glass and plastic, and green for biodegradable waste – which will make it easier for the waste management company responsible for the collections to ensure that all the waste is appropriately recycled or disposed of.

SA retail brands make their pledges

Other initiatives that shouldn’t go unnoticed or uncommended are the efforts and commitments already being made by private companies to adjust some of their business practices.

For example, and in support of global and local movements against the use of nondegradable and plastic packaging etc., several of the major South African retailers have begun introducing recyclable shopping bags.

Woolworths has committed to making all its house-brand plastic packaging reusable and recyclable by 2022, while Pick n Pay has become the first South African retailer to trial compostable bags, designed to break down after three to six months as opposed to 500 to 1 000 years. These retailers are to be commended for their efforts and should serve as examples to others in this industry.

Proactive waste management offers employment opportunities

While recycling offers many environmental benefits, its ability to also create jobs cannot be emphasised enough. In fact, the waste picker sector is on the increase, and plays a key role in South Africa’s recycling strategy. Further to this, waste pickers are reported to make between R290 and R770 from the waste they collect, demonstrating the potential of waste in creating an income stream for individuals.

As recycling becomes more of a national priority, it presents more opportunities for waste pickers to work as one-man bands to support their families, or potentially to organise themselves into small businesses. With this in mind, if given the correct resources, the waste pickers can also become more empowered and, hopefully, employ other members of the community – thus further contributing to combatting unemployment.

Waste management can no longer be approached with a linear view. We need to be thinking ahead, adopting an all-encompassing view, with innovative best practice for recycling and waste reform. Succeeding in this will take significant buy-in from government, corporate South Africa and individual citizens, as every sphere of society has a shared interest and, therefore, an important role to play in adopting positive behaviours to reduce their waste, practise separating and recycling at source, and contributing to the overall sustainable waste management aims of the country.

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CALL FOR PAPERS

presented by

27 & 28 August 2019

Block C, Altron Business Park 241 Third Road, Halfway Gardens, Midrand

SAPPMA has reserved two full days for PIPES XII in order to once again bring the South African plastic pipe industry a world-class line-up of local and international presenters. The SAPPMA pipe conference only takes place every second year; therefore you should not miss out on this unique opportunity.

Submit your details, topic, abstract (max 400 words) and CV (max 100 words) to admin@sappma. co.za by 1 March 2019. Abstracts will be evaluated by the SAPPMA Conference Advisory Committee and presenters will be informed on or before 16th March 2019. The conference programme will be published on 1 April 2019.

Content, must be non-commercial and relevant to the plastic pipe industry. Topics may include pipeline design, installation, pipe quality (standards, testing, certification) innovation, water and sanitation, infrastructure, raw materials, pipe rehabilitation and trenchless technologies.

Speakers are responsible for their own travel and accommodation arrangements and expenses. Accommodation available at the Premier Hotel, which is situated next door to the conference centre. The hotel is easily accessed via a pedestrian gate. Premier Hotel reservations 010-161-0000 ask for the Bytes Conference Centre rate.

Contact Louise Müller Conference Organiser admin@sappma.co.za

Recycling pipe: the first and next time

Standard or processed, hdpe and p Vc plastics have excellent production properties that can be remanufactured into many product formats. Strict quality control rules apply, so r e s ource speaks to Ian Venter from the Southern African p lastic p ipe m anufacturers Association (SA ppm about non-negotiable requirements.

There are two basic destinations for post-consumer plastic products: they can either be disposed of to landfill or recycled, which is the more sustainable approach. However, before going further, it’s important to define the terms unprocessed and processed (using either postconsumer or original in-house factory products.)

New unprocessed PVC or HDPE products are made from quality SANS compliant ‘virgin’ plastic raw materials. They produce a best-inclass manufacturing result under optimal factory conditions and can be melted down again inhouse and repurposed, when required, within the limits of their thermoplastic properties. The in-house recycling of processed products is a common practice where slow-moving or redundant stock is repackaged for new markets.

Either way, the original source of the processed recycled material has been verified. But the other source of recycled processed materials is the most problematic since these plastics come from the post-consumer market, examples being plastic bags and bottles that are recycled into pellets and sold to manufacturers.

They may have been exposed to contamination due to their previous application, such as a container for a toxic chemical liquid or effluent main. Alternatively, contamination could have occurred at the point of disposal, such as a landfill sorting station, which might contain traces of elements like chromium, acids or hydrocarbons.

“Always verify and match the primary source when buying recycled raw materials pellets, or scrap pipe, and test, and test again, for toxicity, especially when human factors are involved,” Venter stresses. “Without prior knowledge, a manufacturer may unknowingly buy recycled materials used previously in an effluent line application containing irreversible toxic compositions and then remanufacture them for potable water use, crop irrigation or industrial packaging, with obvious environmental, health and safety consequences.”

End of property

“Most HDPE or PVC thermoplastics are used for containment, so specific properties and strength are important, whether it’s a milk bottle or a pipeline. That has a significant bearing when these materials or products are reused. Laboratory testing will confirm whether these products or materials are still suitable for their designed application when considered for recycling,” Venter explains.

If materials no longer meet the original specification standard, there are other alternative markets. For example, pipe previously used for high-pressure potable water transfer schemes can be recycled into irrigation pipelines. This market segment currently accounts for some 35% of the recycled HDPE pipe market. Those materials that don’t comply with human consumption safety standards can still find other valuable uses. Within the infrastructure environment, these include gravity systems like sewers, culvert and stormwater roles, and effluent applications.

“Either way, at some point, there’s a recycling limit when materials reach their ultimate thermoplastic usable lifespan, which we refer to as their end of property. That means that their meltability and flexibility have been lost: the next option is their repurposing as a filler in imitation wood, or polywood, benches and when there is really no other option left, end-of-life disposal to landfill,” he adds.

“For post-consumer plastic raw material buyers, always confirm the original use of the original base raw materials, as well as the postconsumer property of the used product before selecting materials and going the recycling route,” Venter concludes.

Ian Venter, technical manager, SAPPMA

End plastic pollution

plastics|SA – the umbrella body representing the entire plastics industry in South Africa – invites all role players in the plastics value chain to jointly find workable solutions to end plastic pollution in our oceans and environment: Join the South African Alliance to End Plastic Pollution.

South Africa’s plastic pollution problem is at risk of being sidelined in the global battle to eliminate plastic waste from our environment. Never before has the issue of plastic pollution – and specifically plastics in our oceans – been so central. During the last two years in particular, global initiatives such as the New Plastic Economy Global Commitment and the Global Alliance were created with the aim of encouraging players in the plastics industry to pledge their commitment to reducing plastic pollution in the oceans.

While these efforts are commendable, they fail to address the South African problem directly. We have our own, unique challenges in waste management infrastructure, education and awareness that must be addressed.

We do not have the luxury of time to wait for these international alliances to shift their focus on to South Africa. We need to develop a workable, local plan – and we need to do so now; it must be a plan that is aligned to international initiatives, but one that finds innovative solutions that fit the South African

context and our particular environmental, sociopolitical and economic realities.

What is the South African Alliance?

The South African Alliance to End Plastic Pollution in the Environment is a united group of all role players in the local plastics value chain that will collaborate to prevent and, ultimately, end plastic pollution in the environment.

Our first priority will be tackling problematic ‘single-use’ packaging by finding solutions and developing the best environmentally sustainable applications. We also urgently need to increase the plastics recycling rates and make more products available with increased recycled content.

But sustainable life-cycle assessments must form the basis for these solutions and more.

Your commitment is essential to end plastic pollution.

Pledge your support and sign up to the South African Alliance to End Plastic Pollution today!

To achieve this, our environment will require much more access to research facilities and technological landscapes, together with the critical involvement of our government, businesses, NGOs, existing environmental and community networks, as well as everyday South Africans.

Expedited timing

The development of a focused, collaborative local South African Alliance to End Plastic Pollution is under way and must be expedited to make immediate impacts while remaining cognisant of external factors like the Global initiatives (2025), the National Development Plan (2030), together with the objectives and roll-out of the proposed Packaging and Paper Industry Waste Management Plan.

And existing projects such as the homegrown, mobile recycling alternative to separation at source, Packa-Ching, would be useful, interim initiatives to deal with the lack of waste management infrastructure.

But we cannot solve the exploding problem of plastic pollution in the environment without all members of the plastics value chain constructively finding and implementing effective and environmentally friendly solutions for our specific waste problems for more effective and greater change.

There’s no time left to waste.

For more information or to sign up to the South African Alliance to End Plastic Pollution in the Environment, please contact Anton Hanekom, Executive Director of Plastics|SA: Email: anton.hanekom@plasticssa.co.za

Tel: +27 (0)11 314 4021

Web: www.plasticsinfo.co.za

Anton Hanekom, Executive Director, Plastics|SA

Inside SA’s tyre recycling industry

Following the liquidation of Redisa (Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa), tyre recycling has become one of the hottest topics at both a local and international level.

Tyre industry veteran John Stone notes that the liquidation of Redisa has adversely affected the industry. “In truth, this has become a very serious situation, as landfill sites are filled to capacity; in addition, scrap tyres are being stored everywhere. At the same time, all Redisa creditors are still waiting to be paid.”

With its recognition as the only approved waste tyre plan for the country, Redisa’s liquidation has unsettled the South African tyre market. Following

news of the liquidation, Nobuzwe Mangcu, managing executive, South African Tyre Manufacturing Conference, said that the move would be of benefit to the industry in the long term, with a caveat: “As long as the future management of waste tyres in South Africa is managed in a transparent way with accountability.” This ties in to what Stone believes is the biggest takeaway from the Redisa liquidation.

An industry in limbo

“The most important lesson learned is not to rush into signing off on a recycling plan and to make sure that manufacturers, importers, retreaders and dealers are involved in the new plan and have the opportunity to provide input,” he says.

SoUTh AFRicAN coMPANiES TURNiNG TyRE wASTE iNTo woRTh

• SoleRebel is a home-grown footwear label that not only gives locally sourced and recycled tyre materials a new lease of life, but also creates jobs and upskilling opportunities for the local communities, requiring little technology and capital.

• The Mathe Group is KwaZulu-Natal’s biggest tyre recycling success story and one of the largest plants of its kind in South Africa. The company produces rubber crumb, a large portion of which goes to the Van Dyck Floors factory in Prospecton, Durban, where it is used to manufacture rubber flooring and paving, and acoustic underlays for different types of floor coverings, which are exported to 50 countries across the world.

The greatest challenge to the industry at present is to create a new official waste management plan and get it up and running again, Stone says.

He notes that the tyre recycling industry in South Africa is currently in a state of limbo. “The recent passing of the Minister of Department of Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, has left the industry in a state of limbo, as her successor appears reluctant and cautious about making a decision, with both current waste management plans under review facing rejection,” Stone explains.

An industry filled with potential

As the industry eagerly awaits a new waste management plan, and opportunities for viable tyre recycling businesses are not immediately clear, Stone believes that tyre recycling has to be a profitable enterprise.

“In fact, so many of today’s modern products are directly derived from tyre rubber that the opportunities to make a profit can be viewed as appealing and endless,” Stone notes.

“Just carrying out a quick survey reveals that recycled tyres are currently producing highway (road) surfaces, traffic calming products, railway crossing panels, access ramps, playground products, mats and various flooring to name just a few of the products processed from rubber,” he points out.

Promoting economic uPliftment

upcycling doesn’t just decrease waste and contribute to zero-waste-to-landfill initiatives, it also creates a new ecosystem that supports communities, enables skills growth and helps organisations in South Africa meet BBBee and corporate social investment (cSI) targets. And it’s not just for companies that have waste they want to upcycle. By Yasmine Miemiec

Upcycling is about transforming a product into another product of equal or higher value, but its key benefit is that it minimises waste. There are certain items that just cannot be recycled – think germ-laden paper handtowels and plastic-lined paper coffee cups; however, these items can be upcycled. In addition, some of these items can be more efficiently upcycled than recycled due to the fact that the energy taken to recycle may increase the company’s carbon footprint. For example, clothing, tyres, wood, glass and plastic can all fall into this category.

Innovative and entrepreneurial thinking is making it easy – and increasingly attractive – for South African companies to upcycle. It’s not just about better stewardship of our environment; upcycling can have a hugely positive impact in terms of addressing skill gaps, unemployment, community development and the economic upliftment challenges South Africa faces.

The most pressing issue is that landfills in South Africa are over capacity and burning waste is not an option – the country already ranks high up (41st in the world) in terms of greenhouse gas emissions per capita. As the government readies to implement the Carbon Tax Bill in early 2019 to help lower energy consumption and waste, companies are taking a serious look at how to manage their eco footprint. Upcycling delivers an impact that cannot be overlooked.

While companies may produce waste in the course of their operations that can be upcycled, there’s also easily accessible waste that can be upcycled… and a big motivation to do so.

Upcycling offers big benefits

Upcycling, done well, delivers broader benefits. It is an opportunity to invest in the upliftment of communities, impart skills, provide employment, encourage entrepreneurship, produce commercially viable products and support business development. That ticks numerous BBBEE, social development and CSI boxes for companies that have a strong sustainability ethos. There are companies that are making it possible.

Over the last five years, companies have started building a strong track record, establishing a number of successful and sustainable upcycling programmes, and creating an entire upcycling ecosystem to support this expanding opportunity.

Business value a priority

The first priority is to align any project with the company’s strategic goals and BBBEE and CSI targets. This means understanding which communities they want to benefit and how this can be achieved. Logistics should then be taken care of, from identifying suitable waste to upskilling people from the community and providing business and entrepreneurship training. Importantly, all outputs should be managed, including all required legislative reporting and the final sale of upcycled goods.

Winning upcycling solutions

For corporates, the wins are skills development, enterprise development, socio-economic upliftment, and better management of the company’s eco footprint. Many corporate clients also buy back the upcycled goods as corporate gifts (e.g. plant containers, candle holders, lamps, etc.), turning these upcycling businesses into suppliers.

There are also some companies that are taking upcycling to the next level.

For example, a South African construction company is taking the opportunity a step further. In addition to donating unneeded material from construction operations, it gives the upcycling team access to state-of-the-art tools and facilities to create the upcycled goods. This is enabling not just the development of a viable business producing saleable goods but training up potential skills that can be used in the construction business and supporting the growth of a potential supplier to the business.

Taking the first steps

Upcycling is for everyone but businesses in South Africa have a big role to play – by supporting upcycling, they can benefit the business and help drive economic growth. It is not hard to get involved.

Yasmine Miemiec, executive director, 5Inc

While some businesses are very specific in terms of which communities they would like to benefit, and the skills they would like to impart, others do not have the resources to manage the project and are simply keen to minimise waste. Companies need to get involved with businesses that have economic development roots and an understanding of legislative requirements, which will be able to deliver on all aspects of these projects, as needed.

As global waste continues to grow and the impact on our planet grows, it’s everyone’s responsibility to explore new solutions. Upcycling is a good one.

Coal, clean energy and climate commitments

South Africa is the biggest producer of coal in Africa. over the past 10 years alone, the country has produced an average of 254 million tonnes of coal per year, of which 70 million tonnes are exported annually. By

Liesl Frankson

These facts and figures are an apt summary of the country’s complicated relationship with coal. As environmental advocates campaign for government to speed up the country’s transition to a low-carbon economy, to build a climate-resilient future, industry experts maintain that coal still has a major role to play in the future of South Africa.

James McKay, spokesperson for energy solutions provider Energy Partners, believes that the surge in the availability and affordability of renewable energy not only presents the country with the unique opportunity to cut its carbon emissions but could potentially drive the country’s coal industry in a new direction.

“The draft of the Integrated Resource

Plan 2018 (IRP Update) has laid out a clear path for reducing coal generation in South Africa from approximately 70% to around 44.6% of the total energy mix, within the span of only 12 years, thereby helping the country to diversify its energy mix considerably. According to this plan, renewable energy will be given an opportunity to play a much bigger role, accounting for around 25% of electricity generated in the country by 2030,” McKay explains.

“With that said, coal still has a major role to play in the future of South Africa, and a future reduction in demand from the utilities side may, in fact, see this industry benefit significantly,” he continues.

“With the growth of clean coal technology, the demand for coal on the international market is expected to continue growing. The export market may hold more profitable opportunities for even

“ t here is no such thing as clean coal. An overview of the coal value chain –from mining to production, supply and disposal –proves that ‘clean’ coal is impossible.”

the low-grade thermal coal that currently gets earmarked for power generation,” McKay highlights.

“Our suggestion to government is to work towards finding methods of phasing out coal-based power generation even faster, and to use thermal coal in a way that can benefit the country’s economy to a greater extent, namely through export.”

Is clean coal really clean?

Tim Lloyd, attorney at legal activist organisation Centre for Environmental Rights, notes that, in terms of environmental sustainability, clean coal may not be the saviour that government hopes it will be.

“Proponents with vested interests in the survival of the coal industry are promoting the idea of ‘clean’ coal technology as the lifeline that will allow

governments to continue to depend on coal as an energy generation option, while supposedly limiting its risks and impacts,” Lloyd says.

“There is no such thing as clean coal. An overview of the coal value chain – from mining to production, supply and disposal – proves that ‘clean’ coal is impossible. There are currently no solutions to neutralise all, or even most, of the dire environmental, health and climate change impacts caused by coal.”

Lloyd believes the country’s energy future lies in investigating and investing in significantly cleaner and cheaper alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar power, which are available in abundance in South Africa.

The connection between coal and climate change and the transition to renewable energy generation are driving change in many sectors across the world. Late last year, insurance giant Zurich announced that it would stop offering insurance to

mining and power generation companies receiving over 50% of their revenue from coal. This move was representative of a growing list of global insurers taking steps to distance themselves from coal in the wake of climate change concerns.

“A number of insurance companies – including Allianz, Scor, Axa and, of course, Zurich – have announced their plans to withdraw insurance from organisations receiving varying percentages of their revenue from coal, with more expected to follow

suit in the coming months,” notes Paul Pryor, leader: Global Mining Practice, Aon.

“As well as changing their insurance policies, some large insurers – including Lloyds of London – are withdrawing their investments in coal companies, with an expected change in insurance policies to follow.”

Towards a climate-resilient future

While the devastating direct impacts of using coal on health, water, land and the climate cannot be ignored, South Africa’s shift to renewable energy may continue to move at a slow pace

D ID YOU KNOW ?

• South Africa managed to achieve seventh position in the G20 rankings for its decarbonisation rate of 3.6% last year. This is almost double South Africa’s annual average change in carbon intensity for the period 2000 – 2017 (a decrease of 1.9%)

– PwC’s Low Carbon Economy Index 2018

• With a domestic economy powered by coal, South Africa has experienced a sevenfold increase in fossil fuel CO2 emissions since 1950, with 80% to 90% of emissions from coal – Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Centre

amid economic uncertainty, according to PwC’s Low Carbon Economy Index 2018

The index notes that, while South Africa saw a large decrease in its carbon intensity for 2016/17, the county has consistently been rated at the bottom of the list for its overall carbon intensity –which measures the tonnes of CO2 emitted versus the country’s GDP.

“As the country faces an increasingly poor GDP outlook, it is important to realise that South Africa is not making the progress needed and is unlikely to achieve its decarbonisation commitments. In order to promote economic growth, it is unlikely

• To be in line with the Paris Agreement goals for mitigation, South Africa would still need to adopt more ambitious actions by 2050, such as expanding renewable energy capacity beyond 2030, fully phasing out coal by mid-century, and substantially limiting unabated natural gas use – Climate Action Tracker

• South Africa is the world’s 14th largest emitter of greenhouse gases – Carbon Brief

• As of July 2018, South Africa has 42 GW of operating coal plants, the seventh largest fleet in the world – Global Coal Plant Tracker

that the current heavily fossil-fuel-dependent energy mix will change anytime soon,” the report notes.

With that said, government’s commitment to lowering carbon emissions and transitioning to a low-carbon economy are becoming more evident, with significant strides being made with legislation, such as the Carbon Tax Bill, and investments in renewable energy projects.

The signing of the 27 Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Projects (REIPPP) has signalled a new era in South Africa’s energy history. This move by government will see solid steps being taken towards the development of alternative power sources including hydropower, solar power and wind power in South Africa.

Integrated hygiene and sanitation services

Renewables integration gets a boost

As renewable energy continues to rapidly surge in both availability and affordability, the demand for integrating it into the current South African energy and industry landscape is growing as well.

Looking towards encouraging this integration, thyssenkrupp now offers a key technology for renewables integration: industrial-scale water electrolysis for large projects.

Developed by experts, the solution, which is based on worldwide leading electrolysis technologies, will make large-scale hydrogen production from electricity economically attractive.

By splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, this technology delivers ‘green’ hydrogen – a clean, CO2-free energy carrier. The only inputs needed are water and renewable electricity from wind, hydropower or photovoltaic panels.

Green hydrogen production is ideal for long-term energy storage, hydrogen mobility and other applications, making optimal use of renewable energy sources.

Designed to meet client needs

The modules easily combine to reach the desired project size, potentially into the hundreds of megawatt range. The patented design is based on the company’s well-proven, leading electrolysis technologies. To date, group company thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers has successfully completed more than 600 electrochemical plants worldwide.

“Based on decades of experience in developing and building electrolysis plants, we have designed our product to meet our clients’ most important demands: simple delivery and installation, high efficiency, and minimal investment and operation costs. And we have an industrial-scale supply chain of 600 MW per year already in place,” says Roland Käppner, head: Energy Storage and Hydrogen, thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers.

“We are now able to offer our customers a wealth of sustainable solutions, which will help to bridge the gap between renewable energy production and consumption. Green hydrogen as a clean, CO2-free starting point can be used in a variety of ways: for energy storage, mobility and the production of sustainable chemicals.”

Hydrogen is not only a clean energy carrier – be it for long-term energy storage in the gas grid or for clean fuels, e.g. for fuel cell mobility. When produced from renewable energy, it can make the production of key chemicals sustainable.

One good example is ‘green’ ammonia: with the water electrolysis technology and its worldclass ammonia process, the company can deliver integrated plants that can produce ammonia from nothing but water, air and sunlight or wind. The ammonia can be further processed into fertilisers.

Towards a climate-friendly, carbon-based industry

The advanced water electrolysis features a wellproven cell design paired with an especially large active cell area of 2.7 m2. By further optimising the proven zero-gap electrolysis technology (leaving virtually no gap between membrane and electrodes), very high efficiencies of more than 82% are achieved.

Bridging the renewable energy gap

Sami Pelkonen, CEO: Electrolysis and Polymers Technologies, thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions, says that, with this water electrolysis process, the company has successfully brought a technology to market maturity, which is of major significance for the energy transition.

In addition, as a specialist in chemical plant engineering and construction, thyssenkrupp can realise additional value chains – e.g. for ‘green’ methanol, which can enable carbon recycling to generate sustainable fuel.

Further power-to-gas solutions include methanation for the production of synthetic natural gas. As the starting point for all these solutions, water electrolysis by the company can help to convert today’s carbon-based industry into a more sustainable, climate-friendly one.

Upcoming EvENTS

AfRicA ENERgY iNDABA

Venue: Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg

Date: 19 – 20 February 2019

Contact: info@energyindaba.co.za

The Africa Energy Indaba Conference is the definitive energy event for Africa, providing an annual programme that shapes energy policy for the African continent.

The conference will provide delegates with the opportunity to debate policy, review industrial progress and market trends, discuss the efficiency of various public support mechanisms and public-private partnerships across the continent, and review new data and the latest technological trends globally.

In addition, companies actively involved in the industry will be showcasing innovative solutions for the benefit of Africa in the exhibition area.

ifAT AfRicA

Venue: Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand

Date: 9 – 11 July 2019

Contact: annalize.cillierseccles@mm-sa.com

Trade professionals in water, sewage, refuse and recycling are expected to gather at IFAT Africa 2019. The event will feature presentations from industry experts, trade associations, business partners and exhibitors on the latest product developments, trends and market analyses in exciting workshops, panel discussions, speakers’ corners and live demonstrations.

The event features an extensive range of product categories and topics including extraction and treatment, sewage treatment, water distribution and sewers, refuse disposal and recycling, generating energy from waste materials, energyefficiency technologies, decontamination of old sites/soil treatment, air pollution control and noise reduction, measuring, control and laboratory technology, environment management and services, and science, research and technology transfer.

Venue: Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg

Date: 26 – 27 March 2019

Contact: enquiry.za@terrapinn.com

Power and Electricity World Africa brings together the brightest and most innovative minds that are shaping the way we generate energy and meet growing demand across Africa. Delegates can look

forward to first-hand knowledge on upcoming projects, investment opportunities across the continent and innovations what will help utilities deliver energy.

The show features Africa’s largest energy exhibition, where leading solution providers showcase a wide range of technologies aimed at helping to transform and innovate the African energy sector.

iNTERNATiONAl cONfERENcE ON REcYcliNg AND WASTE MANAgEMENT

Venue: SunSquare Cape Town Gardens, Cape Town

Date: 27 March 2019

Contact: info@iirst.com

The International Conference on Recycling and Waste Management (ICRWM) will create a global platform for researchers, scientists, academics, policymakers and industry experts to share experiences, discuss research findings and acquire desired knowledge from around the world, with many networking opportunities.

The ICRWM is for broad logical discourse, both intraand interdisciplinary, among universities, colleges, academicians and department personnel through distinguished addresses, plenary sessions, workshops, symposiums, oral and poster introductions, virtual/ video presentations and webinars.

POWER AND ElEcTRiciTY WORlD AfRicA

1

REASONS TO ADVERTISE IN PRINT

Trade and technical print magazines remain the most powerful method for getting your message across in the South African b2b market.

2

A 2016 report by Neilson found that for every one dollar spent on advertising in magazines, four times as much money came back to the advertiser, giving magazines “the highest ROI of all marketing media”.

3 A 2015 report from Neilson concluded that magazines yield the highest ROI of all media, using just 10% of ad expenditure.

4

The Entertainment and media outlook: 2016 - 2020, published by PwC South Africa, found that South Africa’s b2b market, including magazines, directories and online resources, made R9.5 billion in 2015 and is forecast to grow at a 4% CAGR to reach over R11.6 billion in 2020.

5

In a survey looking at consumers’ behaviour in the US, international research company Toluna found that 80% of respondents indicated a clear preference for reading print on paper.

6

Hubcast, a cloud print solutions company, published a recent research paper titled 10 reasons why print isn’t dead, why marketers need to print. The report explores the following reasons for a resurgence in print over the past year:

• Print is easier to read and navigate

• Print readers retain information better

• Digital reading fosters skimming

• Print is tactile

• Print is more credible

• Digital reading can have negative health implications

• Millennials love print

• Print is sustainable (more so than screen reading which requires electricity and fossil fuels)

• It is easier than ever to print globally

7

E-commerce giant Amazon, originally started as an internet-only retailer, has since begun building more and more physical bookstores and other retail outlets so that consumers can touch, feel and more fully experience their products.

3S Media print and digital products

• ReSource (quarterly) promotes integrated resources management, with a focus on waste management and cleaner production. It is the official magazine of the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa (IWMSA) and is endorsed by 12 industry associations.

• IMIESA (monthly) is the official magazine of the Institute of Municipal Engineering of Southern Africa (IMESA), focusing on infrastructure development, maintenance and service delivery.

• Water&Sanitation Africa (bi-monthly) is the official magazine of the Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA), dealing with the preservation, treatment and provision of water.

• www.infrastructurene.ws is a leading news hub for infrastructure development and service delivery, linked to social media platforms.

We are market leaders in combining our print products with multimedia offerings to create content marketing campaigns across print and digital platforms.

Book a cross-platform package with print at its centre, and enjoy:

• greater credibility

• more reach and engagement

• extended brand awareness with your target market.

The official magazine of the