Two Oceans Aquarium Assistant Communications and Sustainability Manager Renée Leeuwner talks trash – and how to relieve the pressure on our landfills.
South Africa is facing a crisis of epic proportion. It is creeping up on us, silently escalating and growing in urgency. Voices are being raised about this looming crisis, but few are giving heed to these calls for change. Reality is that very soon we will have nowhere to run and hide from our own trash! Our landfills are reaching capacity at an incredibly fast pace and predictions are that, within only a couple of years, they will be landfulls! What we need is a change of mind, a change of behaviour and a change of perspective.
In 2011 the City of Cape Town opened its Kraaifontein Integrated Waste Management Facility. The facility consists of four components: a public drop-off facility, a household waste transfer station, a recycling/material recovery facility and a green waste (plants) chipping facility. The household waste transfer facility has a daily capacity of 960 ton, which meansthis facility can direct 960 tons of household waste to the landfill per day.
On 7 March 2012, four Two Oceans Aquarium Green Team members were treated to a guided tour of this facility. Our tour guide, Deon Arend Kotze, started the tour at the public drop-off area. Here residents can drop off up to 1.3 tons (per day) garage waste, builders’ rubble, recyclables and electronic waste (eg old computers, printers, TVs and radios) for free. No kitchen waste is accepted.
In the main building, the refuse transfer station trucks were offloading household kitchen waste. This is compacted into containers that are taken to the landfill where it is dumped. Deon told us that the current pile of waste (250 tons) is quite small and that it can grow to many times its size. What really struck me was that so much on the pile was recyclable - plastic, glass, paper (now contaminated) and tins. If the people who contributed their waste to this pile just recycled, the pile would not grow, but shrink.
In the material recovery facility, we saw the recycling section working at full tilt. Fascinating! The contents of the recycling bags are transferred to a huge conveyer-belt machine that cost R18-million to build. This machine sorts the items into heavy and light, and they are carried to rows of workers who pick off the various types of recyclables. These are then bailed and sent for recycling.
The chipping area is an outside area where garden waste is chipped. Residents are allowed to drop off three 1.3 tons of garden waste each day. The chipped waste is sent to a facility where it is turned into compost.
My grandmother always used to say: “Alles is net ‘n aanvat” (Everything can be done – just start!). She was a very wise woman indeed. Recycling is something you just have to put your mind to and start doing it. It’s not difficult and in some neighbourhoods the City of Cape Town has made it even easier by supplying recycling bags and bins that are collected.
Have a look at the city’s official website here to find your nearest drop-off and collection points.
I enjoyed our visit to the Kraaifontein Integrated Waste Management Facility. It was fascinating to see how our trash and recyclables are treated and distributed to the landfill and recyclers. Deon chatted to us about the facility’s capacity and the amount of waste and recyclables it currently handles. The growth potential is tremendous. My hope is that all the growth happens in the recyclable area and that the waste sent to landfill becomes insignificant, eventually disappearing entirely. Dreams perhaps? I don’t think so. If we all just put our minds to it, do our bit, recycle, reduce, reuse and respect – anything is possible! Remember: Nature knows no waste, neither should your household, your community or your city.
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