Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Chapter 6: Down at <strong>the</strong> dumps… landfillsIn consequence of <strong>the</strong> refusal to build <strong>the</strong> public sector skills base, <strong>the</strong> formalisation ofdisposal, following <strong>the</strong> introduction of <strong>the</strong> minimum standards, has played unevenlyinto <strong>the</strong> privatisation agenda, creating skills requirements to which only <strong>the</strong> largermunicipal departments could respond. This is now likely to be taken fur<strong>the</strong>r as <strong>the</strong>DEAT takes over <strong>the</strong> DWAF’s responsibility for regulating landfills. DEAT’s ambitionis to close all <strong>the</strong> smaller un-permitted dumps in favour of large regional landfills. Thisis already anticipated in <strong>the</strong> planning of some district and metropolitan municipalities.eThekwini hopes to strike deals with neighbouring municipalities to take <strong>the</strong>ir wasteto its new Buffelsdraai landfill. uMgungundlovu is currently looking for a site tobuild a new landfill to take waste from <strong>the</strong> entire district – although this plan may bescuppered by Msunduzi’s metro ambitions. Unlike eThekwini, uMgungundlovu seesno prospect of running <strong>the</strong> landfill itself and plans to hawk it out to a private operator.Emfuleni is considering a major landfill to <strong>the</strong> “west of <strong>the</strong> Vanderbijlpark steel plant”– possibly in <strong>the</strong> already polluted Steel Valley. Operations at <strong>the</strong> Boitshepi dump arealready privatised so <strong>the</strong> municipality has been paying for <strong>the</strong> development of <strong>the</strong>operator’s skills base.The peak of global oil production, anticipated in two or three years although likelyto be delayed by economic depression, will play havoc with <strong>the</strong>se plans for superdumps.On <strong>the</strong> one hand, <strong>the</strong> rise in fuel prices will accelerate, making long distantwaste transport unviable. On <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand, <strong>the</strong> global depression now in prospectwill likely force a reduction in waste, undermining <strong>the</strong> logic of economies of scale.Ei<strong>the</strong>r way, a wholesale review of waste management will become necessary but <strong>the</strong>volatility of markets and prices will make traditional cost-benefit planning virtuallymeaningless.… ‘green’Integrated waste management incorporates waste into <strong>the</strong> orders of ecologicalmodernisation. The waste hierarchy here becomes a series of niche markets in whichproperty rights are created in activities such as recycling to supplement <strong>the</strong> mainbusiness of disposal. Formalisation of landfills, notably <strong>the</strong> fencing in of sites, thuscombines with <strong>the</strong> waste hierarchy – or ra<strong>the</strong>r, <strong>the</strong> commodities boom – to create<strong>the</strong> conditions for formalising recycling, elbowing out <strong>the</strong> waste pickers in favour offormal businesses.- 176 - groundWork - <strong>Wasting</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Nation</strong>