French delegates and their South African counterparts recently pooled their knowledge to solve the City’s waste disposal and transport woes.
A DELEGATION from the French city of Lille Metropole has learnt how the City of Johannesburg implements its waste and transport projects, while taking care of its environment.
The French delegation, comprising of five officials and experts in waste and transport management, met with officials from the City’s waste management and transport departments on Monday, 20 October.
Environmental management is essential
Harvey Phalatse, director at the Johannesburg International Knowledge Exchange (JIKE), welcomed the delegates and said he hoped their visit would be fruitful.
Taking to the podium, Eugene Hlongwane, director in the City’s waste management and regulation environment management department, took the visitors through the department’s Integrated Waste Management Plan. He said the department’s strategic goal is to ensure a clean and safe city.
As a way to contextualise his department’s mandate, Hlongwane presented the department’s six strategic key performance areas which are:
- Sustainable management of waste
- Protection of river systems
- Reduction in land, air and water pollution
- Climate change mitigation and energy efficiency
- Full integration of environmental issues
- Biodiversity and greening
Hlongwane stressed that environmental management was essential for the City because “natural resources won’t last long and are bound to run out”.
“Environmental danger is global and this can be seen in the depletion of the ozone layer, which has led to climate change. These changes are being felt here South Africa where we have seen degradation of natural resources and erosion of river systems,” he said.
Certain challenges face the City in its efforts to implement its environmental management plan. Hlongwane noted that low-income communities, especially those living in informal settlements, use smoke-emitting substances like coal to cook and provide warmth during the winter months.
“Vehicular emissions also exacerbate the situation resulting in poor levels of air quality. The City is also afflicted by poor surface water quality due to blocked sewers, ageing infrastructure and littering.”
The delegates were interested in how the City reduces its waste. Hlongwane said like any city in the world, the City of Johannesburg has a problem of disposing of waste generated by residents and industries.
He lamented the illegal dumping of building rubble by construction companies and lack of community involvement in recycling of waste.
“However, there are measures that we have taken to reduce waste in the City. We subscribe to the Polokwane Declaration on Waste Management of 2001, where national, provincial and local governments committed to reduce waste generation and disposal by 50 percent and 25 percent respectively by 2012, and to develop a plan for zero recyclable waste by 2022.”
Palesa Mathibela, director in the City’s waste sector infrastructure and services department, explained that Pikitup, which falls under her department, is responsible for providing waste management services to households.
“We have come up with innovative ways to collect and dispose of waste in the city. In informal settlements, we provide two refuse bags per household and we have managed to reduce illegal dumping tremendously in these areas.”
Mathibela stressed that education is vital in waste reduction. She said her department has also introduced community-based cleaning, where members of the community participate in the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP).
“We are also looking into partnering with the private sector to provide cleaning services to informal settlements and recycling of waste,” she said.
The inner city generates a lot of waste and has been a challenge to the City’s waste management departments. However, a new way to dispose of waste has been introduced in the form of underground bins, according to Mathibela.
Most of the City’s waste goes directly to landfill sites, and the City is fast running out of space, explained Mathibela.
“Our landfill sites lifespan is between four to 29 years. As a mitigation measure, we are currently recycling four percent of waste meant for landfill sites and directing about 50 percent of green waste to compost facilities around the city,” she said.
The City has also come up with particular projects to reduce waste and conserve the environment. A landfill gas project has been introduced in five of the City’s landfill sites to address greenhouse effects, according to Mathibela.
“The primary aim of this project is to harvest methane gas from landfill sites for the purpose of generating power and to generate carbon credits for trading. The five sites: Goudkoppies, Robinson Deep, Marie Louise, Ennerdale and Linbro Park will generate as much as 20 to 25 megawatts of electricity for about 15 to 20 years.”
Paul Deffontaine, head of the French delegation, said waste reduction is a global problem. However, he said European cities experienced a reduction in waste during 2003 onwards due to stagnation in their economies during this time.
“People are throwing away less and we have managed to implement certain regulatory measures that have discouraged waste disposal in France. For example, companies are compelled to contribute a certain amount of money towards processing of their waste,” he said.
Hannes van der Merwe, deputy director in the transportation planning and innovation department took the visitors through the City’s revolutionary Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. Describing the project as “comprehensive”, Van der Merwe gave a little background to the project.
He said the City inherited a transport system that ignored the needs of the poor black people from the apartheid regime.
“Currently, two-thirds of the City’s residents don’t have access to cars and 75 percent of residents depend on public transport to travel. There has been little investment in public transport and the city’s minibus taxi fleet is almost 14 years old on average.”
As a way to transform the public transport system, the City came up with an Integrated Transport Plan (ITP) from which the Strategic Public Transport Network (SPTN) was proposed.
“The SPTN has been adapted to a new model which is the BRT system. This new public system will see 143 buses (41 articulated and 102 complimentary buses) running along 122 kilometres of trunk routes and 150 bus stations located 500 metres apart. The BRT stations will consist of raised platforms, ramped walkways and ticket offices,” said Van der Merwe.
He said a prototype of the BRT bus station is being built in the inner city and is nearing completion.
“The project is composed of Phase 1A, which is due for completion before the Confederations Cup in 2009, and Phase 1B, due for completion before the 2010 World Cup.”
The French delegation were interested in the type of engines that would be used in the BRT bus fleet.
Van der Merwe explained that the City was going through certain options of engines that would be viable and environmentally friendly.
“We have consulted the Clinton Foundation which recommended that the City purchase engines that utilise diesel technology. They, however, said we should consider purchasing ethanol engines for later stages of the BRT system,” he said.
According to Van der Merwe, Deffontaine was impressed by the BRT system and suggested that the City consider using ethanol engines since sugarcane and maize (which are used to produce ethanol) can be produced locally.
At the end of the presentations, the delegation were taken to Lombardy East Material Recovery Facility and Slovo Park Informal Settlement to find out how the City manages its disposal and collection of waste.
The members of the French delegation return home on 25 October 2008.
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