| Lack of adequate waste management is
currently a problem throughout South Africa. The CMA is no exception. Rapid population and
urban growth is generating increasing amounts of waste. Furthermore, the only nuclear
energy plant in South Africa is situated with in the metropolitan area. Unless steps are
taken to properly monitor and control the generation and disposal of waste across all
sectors, and to provide well-managed disposal and recycling facilities, the problem of
waste will continue to pose an increasing threat to human health and the environment. There are various forms of waste being generated in
the CMA, including solid (mostly domestic in origin), hazardous and liquid waste. Of
the waste entering the official waste stream, three percent is hazardous industrial, nine
percent is non-hazardous industrial, and 88% municipal (Nowicki and Pressend, 1998). These
arise from the many domestic and economic activities in the CMA and as a result it makes
the disposal, management and monitoring of waste particularly challenging. |
|
| Contents of CONTEXTUAL INFO on Waste: |
|
|
| Solid waste |
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| At present data on volumes of solid waste generated in the CMA is
incomplete and inconsistent resulting in discrepancies in volume figures. Solid waste
generated in the CMA boundaries is currently estimated between 738 183 tons per annum
(t/a) (Waste Management Department, CMC) and over 1 million t/a based on a waste
generation per capita of approximately 1kg per day for 2 800 000 people (Parsons, 1997). Table 1 below provides a break down of solid waste generated by
municipality. |
|
MUNICIPALITY |
POPULATION, 1996 |
TOTAL SOLID WASTE GENERATED, t/a* |
Cape Town |
1
053 400 |
283
252 |
South Municipality |
354
150 |
141
974 |
Blaauwberg |
133
150 |
51
734 |
Tygerberg |
928
150 |
130
416 |
Helderberg |
138
310 |
67
327 |
Oostenberg |
268
390 |
63
480 |
CMC Total |
2 875 480 |
738 183 |
|
(Source: Adapted from Wright-Pierce, 1998) |
| Landfill sites in the Cape Metropolitan Area |
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| At present there are seven operating ‘general waste’ landfill
sites in the CMA, with CMC responsible for six sites (Table 2 and Map 1). Enviroserv, a private waste management company, operates a
general and hazardous waste site at Vissershok on the outskirts of the CMA. Of the seven
landfill sites, three are currently permitted and therefore satisfy the Minimum
Requirements for Waste Disposal by Landfill (DWAF, 1994). There are 37 known closed
landfill sites throughout the CMA. Most of the sites were poorly sited and were badly
managed during their operational life (Nowicki and Pressend, 1998). The current financial
cost of landfilling alone is between R30 – R100 per ton (Wright-Pierce, 1998).
According to the National Waste Management Strategy Draft Report of 17 December 1998, all
incinerators that are not permitted by the year 2005 must be closed down. |
|
NAME OF
SITE |
LOCATION |
LIFE
SPAN |
REMAINING AIR SPACE
M3 |
WASTE TYPES ACCEPTED |
VOLUMES (TONS/AN)* |
SOIL |
CLASS |
LICENSED/
PERMIT |
Coastal
Park |
Muizenberg |
2013 |
2
900 000 |
Mixed
Household |
176
000 |
Sandy |
G:L:B+ |
Applied
EIA phase |
Vissershok
CMC |
Frankdale
Road |
2027 |
11
000 000 |
General/
Hazardous |
290
800 |
Clay |
HH,
Hh, G:L:B+ |
Permitted
98 |
Vissershok
WMF |
Frankdale
Road |
2010 |
2
000 000 |
Hazardous |
171
000 |
Clay |
HH,
Hh, L:B+ |
Permitted-97 |
Swartklip |
Khayelitsha |
2000 |
800
000 |
General |
245
000 |
Sandy |
G:L:B+ |
Applied
(Closure) |
Bellville
(Sacks Circle) |
Bellville
South |
2005 |
2
900 000 |
Household,
Industry |
59
200 |
Sandy |
G:M:B+ |
Applied |
Brackenfell |
Brackenfell |
2002 |
49
000 |
Household,
Trade |
14
300 |
Granite
rock |
G:M:B+ |
Permitted-95 |
Faure
(Blue Downs) |
Blue
Downs |
2000 |
|
General |
20
000 |
|
G:M:B+ |
None |
|
| *NOTE: Compiled from Waste Disposal in and around the Cape Metropole,
Parson and Associates, June 1997 and other sources. |
(Source: Adapted from Wright-Pierce, 1998)
|
| Litter |
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| At least four million items of litter per day can be found in the greater
Cape Town area, two million of this being plastics (Ryan and Moloney, 1994). Plastics are
persistent, accumulative pollutants. Being lightweight, they are easily dispersed far from
source areas by wind and water. For instance, it is estimated that up to 239 kg/day of
plastic bags enter stormwater drains. The different types and lightweight nature of
plastic complicate recycling. The cost to collect street litter is roughly eight times
that of containerised litter (Ryan and Swanepoel, 1996). The negative impact on the
tourist industry resulting from litter is a hidden economic cost. |
Table 3 |
Household
Waste Composition (as a % of total*) in the CMA waste stream. |
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|
TYPE |
HIGH INCOME
(AVERAGE) |
MIDDLE INCOME
(AVERAGE) |
LOW INCOME |
| Paper/Cardboard |
12.16 |
26.49 |
17.35 |
| Glass bottles
other glass |
8.47 |
5.13 |
6.12 |
| Metal/beverage
cans |
4.24 |
6.41 |
8.16 |
| Non Ferrous metal |
3.19 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
| Plastic |
17.44 |
21.79 |
27.55 |
| Kitchen Waste |
4.76 |
8.97 |
8.16 |
| Garden Waste |
33.35 |
14.10 |
5.10 |
| Timber |
4.26 |
0.00 |
2.04 |
| Textiles |
2.64 |
2.56 |
12.24 |
| Rubber |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
| Builder’s
rubble |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
| Fines |
7.94 |
11.54 |
13.27 |
| Household
hazardous |
1.59 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
| Other |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
| Total |
100 |
100 |
100 |
|
| *The % of waste composition from available data does not indicate if the
waste was measured in weight, volume or items. |
(Source Wright-Pierce, 1998) |
| Recycling |
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| Approximately 15 500 t/a of glass, 300 000 t/a of metal and 160 000 t/a of
paper is currently recycled in the CMA (Nowicki and Pressend, 1998). The composting of
municipal solid waste takes place at three facilities in the CMA, namely the Bellville and
Radnor Plants managed by the City of Tygerberg and the Mitchells Plain Plant managed by
the CMC. Approximately 49 000 t/a of compost is produced. No accurate figures are
available for plastic. |
Figure 1: Resource recovery
and municipal waste as a proportion of total waste generated |
 |
| (Source: Nowicki and Pressend, 1998) |
| Hazardous waste |
| Domestic
and small business |
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| The Coastal Park, Faure, Bellville and the Swartkip landfill sites
currently receive hazardous waste from domestic sources and small business, despite them
not being lined nor permitted to receive such waste. According to the Solid Waste
Feasibility Study (Wright-Pierce, 1998), 1 - 2% of domestic waste is hazardous. Using this
as a guideline, it can estimated that of the 176 000 t/a of waste entering the Coastal
Park landfill site (Table 6.9), between 2 000 – 4 000 tons are hazardous. |
| Medical waste |
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| The total quantity of medical waste currently incinerated in the CMA is
estimated at 1700 t/a, approximately a third of all medical waste generated. Approximately
30% of medical waste generated is not disposed of at the two permitted medical waste
incinerators. According to a medical
waste survey of 910 medical waste generators (PAWC 1999), 86% of medical waste is disposed
of in a proper way. The remaining 14% of medical waste is disposed of in an unsafe way,
either by being burnt, buried, discharged into the sewer system or dumped into municipal
waste. The majority of this waste (85%) is disposed of in municipal waste. It was found
that 93% of medical waste generators surveyed stored their waste safely and 94% separated
medical waste from other waste. In spite of the Occupational Health and Safety Act
requiring employers to have a health and safety policy in place to safeguard their
employees against occupational hazards, only 73% of the generators surveyed had such a
policy in place. It was found that 88% of all medical waste handlers in the survey sample
had some form of training.
The total quantity of medical waste
currently generated by Provincial hospitals in the Cape Metropolitan Region is estimated
at 139 182 kg per month (PAWC, 1999), all of which is incinerated. It is estimated that
private hospitals in the CMA generate 72 660kg per month, based on 1kg per hospital bed
per day.
There are two medical waste incinerators in
the CMA currently permitted by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. The
Enviroserv incinerator at Vissershok and a smaller one at Delft operated by BCL.
Enviroserv are contracted to remove medical wastes from about 75% (± 110) of hospitals in
the CMA. This incineration facility has the capacity to burn approximately 1680 to 1920
t/a and currently receives 1 200 t/a (Parsons, 1997). Other medical waste incinerators are
linked to hospitals and burn about 500 t/a. These existed prior to 1989 when the Clean Air
Act was passed and may operate whilst in the process of either acquiring a permit or of
closure. According to the National Waste Management Strategy Draft Report of 17 December
1998, all incinerators that are not permitted by the year 2002 must be closed down. |
| Nuclear waste |
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Waste
from Koeberg Nuclear Power Station includes:
- Gaseous waste, routinely released into the
atmosphere;
- Liquid discharges into the sea;
- Low-level solid waste such as protective
clothing;
- Medium-level solid waste such as
contaminated filters, resins and equipment; and
- High-level waste in the form of spent fuel.
Low- and medium-level waste is accumulated
on-site in specially designed drums until a truckload can be transported out of the CMA to
the permanent repository at Vaalputs in the Northern Cape Province. Low-level and
intermediate-level wastes are stored in steel and concrete drums respectively. Waste
volumes generated in these categories in the year 1996/7 amounted to 1560m3,
comprising 1045m3 in metal drums and 515m3 in concrete drums
(Council for Nuclear Safety, 1998). High-level waste consists of highly radioactive spent
fuel. There is at present no national policy for dealing with highly radioactive waste;
neither has Eskom made public its plans for a long-term solution to the problem. In the
interim, the waste is stored underwater in a 'pool' on site. There is currently a concern
that storage space is running out which has given rise to a proposal by Eskom to double
the onsite storage space. |
| Liquid |
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| There
are four main sources of liquid waste in the CMA, namely raw sewage, industrial effluent,
and treated effluent from sewage treatment plants and stormwater run-off. Data regarding
stormwater run-off was not available at the time this report was drafted. |
| Raw
sewage and treated effluent |
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| There
are 21 treatment plants as well as numerous pipelines, interceptor sewers and pump
stations in the CMA (Map 1) (Nowicki and Pressend, 1998). These
receive human waste and both treated and untreated industrial wastewater. Industrial
discharge for small industries is regulated by the local authorities that levy a charge
based on volume, ‘strength’ and toxicity level. Larger industries using more
than 150 kilolitres of water per day require a waste water disposal permit from Department
Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) and must pre-treat effluent, if necessary, prior to
discharging it into the sewer. Wastewater
in the sewers is predominantly comprehensively treated before being discharged into
rivers, waterbodies and the sea. Treatment is wherever possible augmented by maturation
ponds through which effluent from the treatment works passes and improves in quality by
retention and natural bacteriological degradation.
At the three marine outfalls in Hout Bay,
Green Point and Camps Bay, pre-treatment of sewage comprises the removal of rough
screenings and the maceration of fine solids prior to pumping out through the 1.5km -
1.75km long submarine pipelines. The combined wastewater discharge via these marine
outfalls is 6.5% of the total wastewater treated in the CMA. The Mitchells Plain, Cape
Flats and Llandudno treatment works also discharge treated effluent directly into the sea.
Of the 528 Ml of effluent being produced per day, 8% is being reused. The treatment of
sewage produces large quantities of a solids/liquid mixture or sludge (Table
4). Water forms some 99% of raw sludge. Most dewatered or dry sewage sludge is
currently landfilled but when stabilised, dried and compliant with certain metal level
standards, it has potential for use as soil conditioner for agricultural purposes.
|
|
YEAR |
AS DRY SLUDGE
(t/a) |
AS WET SLUDGE
(t/a) |
PROJECTED
ANNUAL INCREASE |
1998 |
44
383 |
234
947 |
|
2030 |
187
807 |
772
717 |
5% |
|
(Source: Wright-Pierce, 1998) |
| Industrial effluent |
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| A
few large industrial facilities discharge their treated wastewater directly into the
marine environment via pipelines or outlets. This discharge can be directly into the surf
zone or via deep-sea pipelines. There are a number of such industrial outlets in the CMA.
Both the Caltex Oil Refinery and Kynoch Fertiliser Limited operate deep-sea pipelines into
Table Bay. The Marine Oil Refinery discharges into the surf zone near Simonstown and
Somchem has five small pipelines discharging into the surf zone near Macassar. These
discharge arrangements require a permit from the DWAF. |
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