AfriForum visited and audited the Libanon landfill site in Westonaria in February this year to kick off its annual landfill site audit. This landfill site obtained a 100% score in the audit, indicating an enormous improvement from the 9% that it obtained in 2018. The audit was done based on minimum requirements that landfill sites must adhere to according to legislation. The Libanon landfill site obtained only 47% in 2017.
According to Jaco Grobbelaar, AfriForum’s Project Coordinator for Environmental Affairs, this landfill site is a good example of how cooperation between community role-players and the local government can turn around a dysfunctional landfill site. “The municipality took less than six months to get the landfill site up to scratch. This is a good example of how cooperation between different role-players can bring about great improvement,” Grobbelaar says.
He says that that this landfill site was one of 11 landfill sites that were identified as problems and discussed with the Department of Environmental Affairs. “We gave the list to the Department to address the environmental issues. The Department suited the action to the word and the improvement is very clear,” Grobbelaar says.
Dewet Ungerer, AfriForum’s Assistant Coordinator for the West Rand, says that the drastic improvement is thanks to a committee that Moses Makwana, the Waste Manager, established. The committee invited people from the community to give their inputs. “It is noteworthy to improve from 9% to 100% in such a short time. We would like to see other municipalities follow the same strategy in towns where landfill sites pose problems,” Ungerer said.
“AfriForum will continue to execute the annual national landfill audit to ensure that landfill sites are managed effectively. The Libanon landfill site shows the value of national reporting and the success that can be achieved through pressure and good cooperation between different parties,” Grobbelaar concluded.
Support AfriForum’s landfill site project: SMS the name of your town to 45354 (R1).