AfriForum’s East Rand branches publish results of landfill site audit

The civil rights organisation AfriForum audited landfill sites on the East Rand in March 2019 as part of a national project to ascertain the quality of landfill sites in South Africa.

 The audit evaluates landfill sites in towns with established AfriForum branches according to 32 questions. A landfill site must obtain 80% to comply with the set standards, and most East Rand landfill sites passed the audit.

According to applicable legislation and regulations – among these the National Environmental Management: Waste Act, 2008 (Act 59 of 2008) – a landfill site should comply with specific requirements, which include access control, illegal dumping, fire regulations, fencing and rehabilitation.   

AfriForum audited about 130 landfill sites in 2018. The results will be included in a report to be sent to the Department of Environmental Affairs.

“We are grateful for the department’s cooperation and that the provincial waste managers made their audits available to us,” says Jaco Grobbelaar, AfriForum’s spokesperson for the audit.

The East Rand landfill sites performed as follows:

“The large landfill sites are managed well, and it is a pleasure to see that these are maintained at a high level. We will investigate the deterioration of the Simmer and Jack landfill site, especially since a new contractor was appointed there. After that, our focus will move to the management of smaller sites and transfer stations,” says Marie Naude, AfriForum’s District Coordinator for the East Rand.

After the project, AfriForum will investigate an alternative plan for landfill sites in South Africa in cooperation with a waste-to-energy company. Similar projects are very successful in other countries. AfriForum will monitor the process continuously to ensure that landfill sites that are not up to standard are brought up to standard.  

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