Tshwane ready to up its waste game

In the last three years, the City of Tshwane has closed the Derdepoort, Valhalla, Temba, Kwaggasrand, and Garstkloof landfill sites. With only four sites still operational, the metro has seen a rise in illegal dumping over the years; however, planned strategies are in place to curb this. By Nombulelo Manyana

Speaking at the IWMSA’s Waste Crisis in Gauteng seminar in 2020, Abel Malaka, head: Waste Management Department, City of Tshwane, said the city is focusing on initiatives that will secure waste disposal facilities for better waste management in Tshwane. These include the acquisition of private landfill site airspace, alternative waste treatment, as well as landfill site closure plans and alternative landfills.

Malaka indicated that four sites have been identified and recommended for feasibility studies for new landfill sites.

For the city’s existing Temba, Onderstepoort, Kwaggasrand and Garstkloof landfill sites, a closure application has been submitted to the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD) for consideration.

The sites will now alternatively be used as a garden waste site or waste transfer station, where municipal solid waste is temporarily held and sorted before heading to a landfill or waste-to-energy plant. Garbage trucks that run city routes drop off their trash here before it’s loaded on to larger vehicles and shipped off. The Onderstepoort landfill is also in the process of submitting a final report for closure, also for consideration by the GDARD. It will be used as either a garden waste site, transfer station or rubble crushing plant. Another consideration is turning it into a materials recovery and energy facility, which will receive recyclable materials and then use a combination of equipment and manual labour to separate and densify materials in preparation for shipment to end-user manufacturers.

Kwaggasrand is already being used as a materials recovery facility, while the Garstkloof landfill site will be used as a rubble crushing plant and waste sorting facility.

Malaka said the acquisition of airspace is a short-term solution for the city, which is currently in negotiations with private landfill owners for the outright purchase of airspace.

Faced with dwindling landfill space for waste disposal, the Gauteng Infrastructure Financing Agency (GIFA) was appointed in March 2015 to conduct a feasibility study into alternative waste treatment methodologies.

GIFA and the City of Tshwane signed a memorandum of understanding on the project in May 2016 and, upon completion of the feasibility study, GIFA recommended a wasteto-energy plant for Pretoria West power station and Rooiwal. The city will be approaching private energy companies to convert Pretoria West coal power station into an incinerator, based on the outcome of the feasibility study.

The city is also expected to announce large waste-to-energy projects for its landfill sites and wastewater facilities.

Tshwane was recently labelled as having some of the most non-compliant landfill sites in the country. Three of Tshwane’s landfill and waste disposal sites faced imminent closure in 2019 due to non-compliance with the conditions of the permits/licences under which they operate.

Malaka said the city is developing an action plan to ensure compliance and is doing an audit report on landfill sites conducted by the department.

An airspace assessment and financial provision report has been completed. In addition, the city appointed a panel of service providers to undertake surface water and groundwater monitoring, as well as an independent external audit, which has advanced a report to motivate for external landfill site operations and management.