Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork

Chapter 2: Rubbish FiguresTable 5: Waste collected as reported by municipalitiesMunicipal category No. Total Hhlds Ave. mt/y Total mt/y Hhld/t/yA: Metropolitan 6 4,914,930 1,752,613 10,515,678 2.1B1: Secondary City 21 2,048,937 247,743 5,202,603 2.5B2: Large town at core 29 1,063,207 129,351 3,751,179 3.5B3: Small towns, no core 111 1,575,946 16,041 1,780,551 1.1B4: Mainly rural 70 2,774,493 98 6,860 0.002Totals 237 12,377,513 2,145,846 21,256,871 1.7Compiled from DEAT 2007a.According to the DEAT assessment, there are over 2,000 municipal waste facilities ofwhich only 530 are permitted. Table 6 shows how much waste the municipalities saidthey disposed of.Table 6: Waste disposed as reported by municipalitiesMunicipal category No. Total Hhlds Ave. mt/y Total mt/y Hhld/t/yA: Metropolitan 6 4,914,930 2,419,100 14,514,600 2.9B1: Secondary City 21 2,048,937 155,684 3,269,364 1.5B2: Large town at core 29 1,063,207 65,410 1,896,890 1.7B3: Small towns, no core 111 1,575,946 29,478 3,272,058 2.0B4: Mainly rural 70 2,774,493 16,607 1,162,490 0.4Totals 237 12,377,513 2,627,410 24,115,402 1.9Compiled from DEAT 2007a.Municipal responses to the assessment thus indicate that they collected over 21 mt/yof waste and disposed of over 24 mt/y. Clearly this cannot be taken at face value. B2,3 and 4 municipalities do not have weighbridges or other means of measuring wasteand many have no waste management capacity to speak of. Their reported figures areestimates if not thumb sucks.Metros do have weighbridges etc., suggesting that the figures of 10.5 mt/y collectedand 14.5 mt/y disposed of should be in the ball park. The additional waste disposedwould be accounted for by dumping by private waste companies and individuals.Assuming an average 4 people per household, 14 the disposal figure implies per capita14 The national average is 3.8 people per household.Wasting the Nation - groundWork - 29 -