AfriForum audited 153 landfill sites across South Africa this year as part of the organisation’s national project to measure the quality of landfill sites in South Africa.
Only 1 out of 11 landfill sites that were audited in Limpopo complied with national standards. In terms of applicable legislation and regulations, including the National Environmental Management: Waste Act 59 of 2008, all landfill sites must comply with specific requirements.
According to Magdel Jansen van Vuuren, AfriForum’s District Coordinator for Limpopo, most of the landfill sites in Limpopo are in a poor state. “This can be attributed mainly to people living on the landfill sites and making fires there. Animal waste is regularly dumped on some of the landfill sites and there are no sorting networks.”
Van Vuuren says that the most common problems that AfriForum identified during the audit included the absence of landfill site licences and a complete mismanagement of sites.
Municipal deterioration is rampant and it is noticeable that especially smaller municipalities are subject to large-scale mismanagement.
AfriForum met with Barbara Creecy, Minister of Environmental Affairs, and her team on various occasions. Six landfill sites were identified that the Department will tackle in cooperation with AfriForum to bring these up to standard again. AfriForum will also focus on solving problems at certain landfill sites in the province in cooperation with the relevant municipality. The organisation will apply pressure to get these sites up to standard. AfriForum will monitor the situation closely to ensure that these sites’ standards improve sufficiently.
- Read the complete report here.