Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork

ContentsMining waste .................................................................................76Salvagers ........................................................................................76Enforcement ..................................................................................77Contaminated land ........................................................................77Chapter 4: The toxic cradle of production .......................................................79Making and wasting ...................................................................................79Paint it green ........................................................................................81Conspicuous consumption ...................................................................87The sacrifice to mining ...............................................................................88Abandoned mines .................................................................................90Laying waste to water ...........................................................................91Platinum: more precious than people ....................................................96Steeling the future ......................................................................................98Chemicals and plastic ...............................................................................103The plastics industry ...........................................................................108Plastic and packaging ..........................................................................113Aluminium ...............................................................................................119Cement kilns ............................................................................................122Chapter 5: Modernising Municipal Waste .....................................................127Inside the municipal waste stream .............................................................127Creating waste bodies .........................................................................130The Minimum Requirements for Sanitary Landfills ............................133Chapter 6: Down at the dumps .....................................................................137eThekwini .................................................................................................138Bisasar Road .......................................................................................139The calculus of cost ......................................................................139- 6 - groundWork - Wasting the Nation