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Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork

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Chapter 5: Modernising municipal wasteThe Minimum Requirements for Sanitary LandfillsThe language and practice for managing and regulating <strong>the</strong> waste stream and wastebodies in South Africa was written into <strong>the</strong> DWAF’s ‘minimum requirements’ whichcame in three parts: for disposal by landfill, for monitoring of landfills, and forhazardous waste.The minimum requirements followed from <strong>the</strong> studies of <strong>the</strong> early 1990s [see Chapter3]. They aim to improve waste management and bring it, eventually, to <strong>the</strong> standardsof ecological modernisation. While focusing on disposal, <strong>the</strong>y <strong>the</strong>oretically fit within<strong>the</strong> framework of <strong>the</strong> waste hierarchy which implies <strong>the</strong> overall reduction of both <strong>the</strong>volume and hazardousness of waste. They are periodically updated and some are nowin a third edition. Actual control over landfills is by permits, issued by <strong>the</strong> DWAF,which should reflect <strong>the</strong> minimum requirements.These regulations include requirements relating to:- <strong>the</strong> siting and engineering design of landfills to prevent groundwaterpollution;- leachate management or at least leachate monitoring;- gas management and monitoring;- site security and access control, stipulating amongst o<strong>the</strong>r things <strong>the</strong> exclusionof waste-pickers;- conditions for daily operating including record keeping, what wastes maybe accepted and controls to prevent dumping of o<strong>the</strong>r wastes, and <strong>the</strong> dailycovering of exposed waste with soil;- plans for <strong>the</strong> final height and shape of <strong>the</strong> landfill;- plans for final closure, rehabilitation and future land use.The minimum requirements give <strong>the</strong> impression that waste will be managed withoutcausing pollution but in fact build in a number of compromises. To take two examples:The requirements prescribe that landfills should be sited far from aquifers that couldbe contaminated but also take account of economic factors – like <strong>the</strong> origins of <strong>the</strong>waste streams and <strong>the</strong> distance that <strong>the</strong> waste must be transported – that may distortthis fine siting principle. The choice of leachate system – i.e. for collecting or merelymonitoring leachate – depends on <strong>the</strong> local climate but does not take account ofextreme wea<strong>the</strong>r events that will become more common with climate change.<strong>Wasting</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Nation</strong> - groundWork - 133 -

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