Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork

Chapter 5: Modernising municipal wasteChapter 5: Modernising Municipal WasteThe municipal ‘waste stream’ starts in thousands of households and businesses wheremany types of waste are thrown together promiscuously and it ends – no surprise– fermenting in toxic ‘waste bodies’. Its primary source is the consumption city, whichbuys in energy, water, food, clothes, appliances, vehicles, building materials and otherresources to sustain itself. The richest neighbourhoods produce most waste and theflood is unerringly directed to the poorest. In Cape Town, more than half of the895,000 tonnes per year of domestic waste comes from a tiny minority of high incomehouseholds. This, together with Cape Town’s commercial wastes, all goes to rubbishdumps located in poor neighbourhoods on the Cape Flats where people produce farless waste, much of which is not even collected.Inside the municipal waste streamThere is little information on what South African municipal waste contains and,internationally, this waste is notoriously difficult to analyse. Waste composition variesby class and location, across different countries, and also by season. Waste managementpolicies and practices also influence the waste stream: regulation and support forrecycling can reduce it, while providing bigger bins and more efficient collectiontypically increases the amounts that households throw away. National averages shouldtherefore be treated with caution, remarks Paul Williams in his waste managementtextbook [1998]. The figures from the world class consumer society of the US, shownin Table 12, thus give only a rough idea of relative proportions.Table 12: Composition of Municipal Solid Waste in the US.PaperYard(garden)wasteFoodwastePlastics Metals Rubber,leather&textilesGlass Wood Other37% 12% 11% 11% 8% 7% 6% 5% 3%Source: US EPA quoted in Pichtel 2005.Wasting the Nation - groundWork - 127 -