With the onset of the Western Cape organics landfill ban in 2022, municipalities across the province will be expected to put in place a 50% diversion of organic waste from landfills. The realisation of the ban will depend on the ability of all relevant stakeholders to align and approach the responsibility head-on, according to Emile Fourie, the owner of Ywaste Solutions, a composting service based in Cape Town.
As a whole, the province will need to divert an additional 148 655 tonnes (21.4%) of organic waste from landfills to meet the 50% reduction target, according to Rudolf van Jaarsveldt, spokesperson for the Western Cape department of environmental affairs and development planning (DEADP). Currently, 199 179 tonnes (28.6%) of organic waste is being diverted from waste management disposal facilities in the Western Cape, he said in email correspondence with MatieMedia.
With the onset of the Western Cape organics landfill ban in 2022, commercial and industrial producers of organic waste must commit to source-separating their waste and linking up with an accredited organic waste collector, to collect it for composting or other forms of processing. This was according to Alderman Xanthea Limberg, the City of Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for water and waste. Businesses can contact the Organics Recycling Association of South Africa for assistance and guidance on this, she added. PHOTO: Tamsin Metelerkamp
“Targets are always set to be aspirational, however, we are trying our utmost to achieve it,” said Van Jaarsveldt.
In 2018, the DEADP made it a requirement that each municipality within the Western Cape determine a “status quo” of how much organic waste they produce, according to Melanie Ludwig, chairperson of the Organics Recycling Association of South Africa (ORASA), and owner of Zero to Landfill Organics, a composting service. Based on this amount, municipalities needed to draw up and submit an organic waste diversion plan showing how they would reach the target of 50% organic waste diversion by 2022, and 100% by 2027, she added.
“So, based on what the status quo was in 2018, that would determine what the 50% diversion would look like,” said Ludwig.
The enforcers
Only 11 organic waste diversion plans have been submitted to the DEADP at this stage, according to Van Jaarsveldt. “The department has issued letters to all municipalities and reminded them of outstanding plans,” he said.
The Western Cape provincial government is requiring municipalities to respond to its landfill ban on organic waste through specific requirements in the licence conditions of each municipal landfill site, according to Alderman Xanthea Limberg, the City of Cape Town’s (CCT) mayoral committee member for water and waste. As such, the province requested that the CCT provide a specific plan for organic waste diversion from its Coastal Park Landfill site, she said in email correspondence with MatieMedia.
It is important to implement strategies for the diversion of organic waste from landfills, as this will save landfill space and prevent organic waste from fermenting and emitting methane gas – a process that damages the environment, according to Alan Oosthuizen coastal general manager for EnviroServ Waste Management. According to the GreenCape Waste Market Intelligence report 2021, the Western Cape (WC) generated approximately 489 293 tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) organics in 2015, of which the City of Cape Town (CCT) municipality generated approximately 342 505 tonnes. While these are the most recent figures available, estimates based on these figures suggest that between 470 767 and 538 416 tonnes of MSW organics was generated in the WC in 2020, while approximately 577 450 tonnes will be generated in 2024. GRAPH: Tamsin Metelerkamp
“The city already diverts all garden waste from landfilling at the site, which makes up approximately 45% of the organic waste fraction,” said Limberg. For the period between July 2020 and June 2021, 53 077 tonnes of garden waste were diverted from landfill in the CCT, she added.
Ludwig expressed concern about the DEADP’s ability to enforce the ban, adding that ORASA has been attempting to raise awareness about it in order to increase the likelihood of compliance among local households and businesses.
“[W]e are not aware of how the ban will be enforced or how companies will be benchmarked,” said Siobhan O’Sullivan, group strategy and marketing executive at Premier FMCG, a food manufacturing company with facilities in the Western Cape. O’Sullivan added that at this stage, the company’s Cape Town site has not received any communication regarding the upcoming change in regulations.
The producers
The largest generators of organic waste in the Western Cape include farms and big commercial food processing plants, according to Van Jaarsveldt. Other large-scale producers include companies that produce pre-made foods, and restaurants, said Ludwig. In many cases, the organic waste generated by such businesses is still going straight to landfill, she added.
“All stakeholders must […] play their own part in organic waste diversion,” said Limberg. Commercial and industrial producers of organic waste will have to commit to separating out their organic waste, and linking up with an accredited organic waste collector or service provider, to have it collected for composting or other forms of processing, she added.
“The real mechanism [of enforcing the ban] is to get the person who is signing the papers in the company that is producing the waste – that financial officer – to allocate funds to correctly source-separate and divert that waste,” said Ludwig.
Businesses have the option of using either a municipal service or a private contractor to remove their waste, according to Ludwig. In situations where the cost of sending mixed waste to landfills exceeds that of organic waste diversion strategies, businesses are more likely to employ organic waste diversion services, or put pressure on their waste removal contractors to provide alternatives, she said.
However, diverting organic waste from landfills also requires waste producers to “put effort in, to train staff, get extra bins, source-separate and do it properly”, said Ludwig.
The largest generators of organic waste in the Western Cape include farms and big commercial food processing plants, according to Rudolf van Jaarsveldt, spokesperson for the Western Cape department of environmental affairs and development planning. PHOTO: Tamsin Metelerkamp
Some businesses in the Western Cape, such as Pick ‘n Pay, have already implemented strategies to divert food waste from landfills, according to Andre Nel, the general sustainability manager at Pick ‘n Pay.
“[Through our waste management programme], food waste was reduced by 21% year-on-year, and 955 tonnes of food waste was recovered in our previous financial year [FY],” said Nel, in email correspondence with MatieMedia. “Compared to our FY2019 baseline, we have already reduced food waste by 32.5%.”
Premier FMCG has continued to improve their waste management measures, according to O’Sullivan. “Based on the group’s available capex [capital expenditure] budgets, we prioritise the various initiatives. As such, we may not be able to achieve a 50% reduction year on year, but will continue to [put] plans in place to further reduce our waste,” said O’Sullivan.
Currently, the bulk of Premier’s organic waste, which includes damaged and returned products and dough, goes to animal feed, according to O’Sullivan.
“Over the past three years, a total of 717 tonnes of waste went into landfill. We have programmes in place to reduce this and in 2021, 188 tonnes of organic waste was sent to landfill. This is for our Cape Town site, which comprises a mill and a bakery,” she said.
The diverters
“The best solution for organic waste is animal feed,” said Alan Oosthuizen, coastal general manager for EnviroServ Waste Management, in email correspondence with MatieMedia. “If the waste holds no nutritional value, the second alternative is composting. [A]naerobic digestion is a third method of destruction to ensure all organic waste is diverted from landfill.”
The Western Cape organics landfill ban could provide an opportunity for new players to enter the organic waste diversion industry, according to Takunda Chitaka, a postdoctoral fellow under the DSI/NRF/CSIR chair in waste and society at the University of the Western Cape.
“[A] lot of the players are coming in on the consulting level. But not so much on the actual dealing with organic waste [level]. So, there’s a lot of room for new players to come onboard,” said Chitaka. “Not enough people are actually treating organic waste, but [there are] lots of people who have ideas and just negotiate where organic waste goes.”
There are a number of strategies for diverting organic waste from landfills so as to create new products. There are also opportunities for “new players” to enter the industry and manage the treatment of organic waste under the 2022 Western Cape organics landfill ban, according to Takunda Chitaka, a postdoctoral fellow under the DSI/NRF/CSIR chair in waste and society at the University of the Western Cape. “[A] lot of the players are coming in on the consulting level. But not so much on the actual dealing with organic waste [level],” said Chitaka. INFOGRAPHIC: Tamsin Metelerkamp
Some existing organic waste diversion companies are looking to expand their operations with the onset of the ban, according to Fourie. Currently, Ywaste Solutions diverts an average of between 2 500 and 7 000 tonnes of waste from landfills each year. “We are looking at increasing our capacity,” said Fourie.
Ludwig noted that while organic waste diverters have the capacity to accept more waste, they also require customers who are willing to pay for the service.
“With food waste, it’s 80% water, and the amount of compost that you make is so small, you can’t actually get your costs for your composting and transport…so you need to charge for it,” said Ludwig. “But people have this mindset that as soon as you recycle, suddenly, someone could pay you. You’ve got to tell them that actually, they need to pay for the service.”