Towards zero waste: a case study in the City of Tshwane

Abstract

Tshwane is presently landfilling all of its municipal solid waste (MSW) with no pre-processing or minimization efforts. This is a result of the available capacity of its existing landfills, thought to be able to satisfy the city's needs for, at most, the next 10 years. It is possible that the authorities will not wake up to the problem before it is too late. This study addresses these challenges. This study first identified and evaluated technologies available in developed countries for processing the various components of the MSW stream, appropriate to local conditions, as an alternative to landfilling, to ensure that these components will be either reused, recycled or rendered harmless to the environment before disposal. Then most appropriate technologies for Tshwane were selected and assembled into an optimal configuration to achieve a zero waste situation in Tshwane within a decade or two. This represents a significant change in MSW management in Tshwane, from total landfill to zero waste to landfill. Although the study focused on Tshwane, it can be argued that the findings can be implemented in any other South African municipality, and even implemented in other emerging countries.

Challenges and Opportunities in Transforming a City into a “Zero Waste City”

“…Many studies have been done in different cities to design effective waste management systems aiming at zero waste, including studies in Masdar City [27], Tshwane [28], Taiwan [29], India [30], Australia [31], Greece [32], and England [33]. However, there have been very few studies on a holistic approach to zero waste cities.…”

Factors That Affect The Nonpayment Of Municipal Services In Madibeng, Mamelodi And Soshanguve Townships Of South Africa

“…A number of economists and researchers have shown that the number, scale, magnitude and severity of protests over municipal service delivery were significantly associated with socioeconomic factors such as abject poverty, lack of employment opportunities, and lack of basic access to health and educational services. Between 2008 and 2009, there were about 100 municipal service delivery protests in various South African municipalities (Phago, 2009;Horn, 2010;Snyman & Vorster, 2011;Aigbavboa & Thwala, 2013). The protests were a result of poor or inadequate municipal services.…”

“…Municipal employees are under attack for poor performance and intolerable conduct (Phago, 2009;Snyman & Vorster, 2011;Worku, 2013Worku, , 2014Worku, , 2015Worku, , 2016. For instance, some employees in municipalities are not suitably qualified to discharge duties to satisfactory levels (Phago, 2009;Aigbavboa & Thwala, 2013).…”

“…The report issued by the South African Auditor-General (2016) for the financial year 2014/2015 indicates that all three townships experience difficulties such as inability to keep up with the maintenance of public roads, street lights, the supply of water, the removal, disposal and management of municipal solid waste, and problems related to sanitation and the general environment. Municipal employees lack specialized skills in the management of public finance (Horn, 2010;Snyman & Vorster, 2011;Aigbavboa & Thwala, 2013).…”

Climate change and metabolic dynamics in Latin American major cities

“…Assessments for Miami, Taipei and Paris have been carried out from an energy approach [24][25][26]. Other studies have focused on urban metabolism of water [27][28][29], food and nutrients cycles [30][31][32][33], residues [34][35][36][37][38][39], transport and food [6,40].…”