Landfill Sites ‘Will Reach Capacity in Five Years’

Landfill Sites ‘Will Reach Capacity in Five Years’
NOWHERE TO PUT THE RUBBISH IN 2010
Wendell Roelf – Sapa

Cape Town faces a filthy future as the city’s six major landfill sites are expected to reach their capacity in the next five years.

“We have a serious crisis. Imagine what the city will look like in 2010, when refuse trucks collect dirt and have nowhere to put it,” said Saliem Haider, acting head of disposal in the City’s Solid Waste Department.

Of the six landfill sites, at Coastal Park, Vissershok, Bellville, Faure, Brackenfell and Swartklip, two have already been shut down.

After the closure of Swartklip and Brackenfell, hundreds of thousands of tons of waste have been transferred to the remaining sites, considerably shortening their lifespan.

For example, Coastal Park has a recommended lifespan of 15 years and Vissershok six years without a proposed northern extension. But now, with Faure expected to close next year, their lifespan will reduce to five years each.

The city was conducting at least 13 specialist studies, which include the impact of air and ground-water pollution and infrastructure accessibility, on two sites for a proposed regional landfill site – one at Kalbaskraal and another South of Atlantis.

“These sites will only become operational at the earliest in 2011, which means that in 2010 the city won’t have an inch of legal space to put its waste,” said Haider. He said the city needed to buy at least 500ha of land for the new regional site, which would operate for a minimum of 30 years. Compounding the precarious situation was the possible closure in September 2006 of the Bellville South Landfill Site.

The City had successfully appealed against a provincial decision two years ago supporting the closure, but now needed clarity on the way forwarded from environment MEC Tasneem Essop, whose spokeswoman Lynnette Johns said Essop would visit the site next week.

The Bellville South site has also been proposed for a pilot methane extraction project in which methane will be taken from the landfill and sold as carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce harmful emissions and provide an alternative energy source to surrounding industries.

Haider said profits from a successful project – studies show success is likely – could help pay for the rehabilitation of the landfill site, estimated to cost about R75 million.

The community has campaigned for the site’s closure, which besides being an eyesore was also said to have increased health problems in the area.

Haider said the city was against the closure because of the knock-on effect on the Bellville site. He said Cape Town was on average dealing with a 6% annual increase in waste, despite minimisation attempts.