Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork

Chapter 6: Down at the dumpswork particularly if there is limited or no separation of waste at source. Evidence fromDenmark indicates that endotoxins form in mixed dry waste, penetrate worker’s lungsand will eventually kill them. It is not clear if these endotoxins will form in differentclimates. 90A pilot recycling plant at Mariannhill now employs 50 people at the minimumwage sorting mixed (including wet) domestic waste. The operation is outsourced toRe-Ethical Engineering but DSW monitors legal compliance with labour laws andinsists on employment from the local community, according to officials. However,Parkins says there is a tension between jobs and mechanisation as the latter would becheaper. Outsourcing recycling is evidently one way to contain costs but also reflectsthe construction of a close association between the discourse of environment and thatof privatisation by the waste industry in general and municipalities in particular. Asnoted, however, DSW is concerned to develop its own revenues and to use its strategicpositioning to control the market. For Moodley, the primary purpose of recycling is tosave ‘air-space’. He estimates the costs of landfill at R130 per cubic meter. At present,Mariannhill takes a total of 700 tonnes a day of which 200 tonnes is diverted throughthe recycling facility. 28% of this waste is taken out for recycling, which works out atabout 8% of the 700 tonne total. Moodley calculates that this saves R120,000 in airspaceper month.Construction and demolition waste makes up a substantial proportion of all waste, 91reflecting the increasingly rapid turnover of buildings as well as the abandonment ofwhole districts and industries. This is a concrete manifestation of the so called ‘creativedestruction’ of capital and is accelerated under conditions of financialisation. Recyclingrubble for construction infill or road foundations would make substantial savings onlandfill space and transport, as well as replacing virgin material used for such purposes.The plant, however, is likely to add considerably to dust and noise pollution.Composting, by contrast, appears benign if well managed. 92 Whereas the metaphor ofthe cycle of nutrients in natural living systems is commonly used in relation to recycling,90 Thanks to Peter Lukey for this information. The endotoxins are essentially dead microbes.91 Construction and demolition wastes make up one third of the UK waste stream. No South African figures areavailable.92 Pichtel [2005] reports potential health threats from a fungus and from endotoxins and bioaerosols dependingon the management regime, including the method and scale of composting and the working conditions.- 142 - groundWork - Wasting the Nation