To deal with the increasing volumes of waste generated by Cape Town’s growing population, the City is working hard to both reduce the volume of waste that is sent to landfills and increase the available landfill airspace before it reaches capacity.
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The second prong of the strategy, increasing landfill airspace, was in focus last week when Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Waste Management Alderman Grant Twigg visited the Design and Develop Airspace Project at the City’s Vissershok Landfill.
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Landfill airspace is the volume of space on a landfill site permitted for disposal of municipal solid waste.
According to current projections, current available airspace for the City is predicted to run out by 2036, however, this project should be able to extend available airspace by at least two years through the construction of two new cells for safely containing waste. The construction of additional cells at Vissershok North will further increase airspace security. This is currently in the planning phases.
The additional airspace provided may end up being greater than two years, depending on the success of waste minimisation strategies (currently being implemented by the three tiers of government) in reducing the volume of waste being generated.
These waste minimisation strategies are implemented in partnership with producer responsibility organisations representing industry and the residents of Cape Town themselves, who must play an important role by shopping smarter and separating waste for recycling.
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‘While recycling remains important, it is becoming increasingly clear that this alone is not sufficient to eliminate our need for landfills in the next 20-30 years at least. We still have to make provision for waste in landfills at the moment, but by no means have we given up on recycling and waste minimisation.’
‘Large infrastructure projects that will enable the expansion of recycling collection services in Cape Town are currently under development, and the City is increasing requirements on businesses to divert waste progressively. The implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility regulation by the national government is also creating new opportunities for partnership and collaboration with industry to reduce waste that is sent to landfill.’
‘The City remains committed to safeguarding our environment for future generations to thrive,’ said Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Waste Management Alderman Grant Twigg.
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Picture: Supplied/ CoCT