The government’s ambition is to have a zero waste to landfill objective – through avoid, reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, treat and dispose, but the current lack of alternatives means landfills need to be used for the foreseeable future. SA is “ranked 11th in the world in terms of mismanagement of plastic waste”.

Also, South Africa’s waste is going to waste – the National Pricing Strategy for Waste Management says that the country disposes of at least R825 billion worth of recoverable resources each year. Landfills in the Western Cape and Gauteng, for example, are on the brink of reaching capacity. Earlier this year, the provincial Environmental Affairs Department warned that the area could be headed for a waste crisis. No new permits for landfills have been granted in 2 decades.

It is essential that provincial governments address this, and other waste management shortfalls, to prevent the spread of harmful diseases that threaten the well being of all South Africans. Landfill sites generate 4% of our carbon emissions— in the form of methane gas — fixing this is a stated goal in the country’s plans to reduce emissions. Annually about 630 000 tonnes of plastic is dumped illegally, with the potential of being washed into the ocean.