AfriForum kicks off its annual national landfill site audit project

AfriForum today kicked off its national landfill site audit project for 2019. This entails the audit of landfill sites across South Africa where AfriForum has established structures. The audits are being done on the basis of the minimum requirements to which landfill sites must adhere according to legislation.  

AfriForum launched its first landfill site audit project in 2014 to keep record of the manner in which landfill sites in South Africa are being managed, as well as to hold the respective authorities responsible in the event where landfill sites are being managed poorly.

According to Jaco Grobbelaar, AfriForum’s Project Coordinator for Environmental Affairs, AfriForum has already achieved success after the conclusion of such an annual landfill site audit project. “A good example of a success story is the Hatherley landfill site in Pretoria that improved from a 36% compliance in 2016 to an 80% compliance in 2018. This improvement can be attributed to the good cooperation with the Department of Environmental Affairs and sustained pressure that was applied. AfriForum will continuously place pressure on municipalities and authorities that don’t apply waste management properly.”

AfriForum is also encouraging communities to place pressure on authorities to apply sound landfill site management practices. “Communities are paying tax that need to be utilised for, among others, the maintenance and effective, safe management of landfill sites. Municipalities that don’t perform these obligations must be held accountable by their local community to turn around the way in which the landfill sites are being managed,” says Grobbelaar.

Applicable legislation and regulations, among others the National Environmental Management: Waste Act, 2008 (Act No. 59 of 2008) determine that a landfill site needs to comply with prescribed requirements. Factors that are taken into consideration include access control, illegal dumping, fire regulations, enclosure and rehabilitation. Also, no medical waste may be present on any landfill site that has been classified as a general site. According to Grobbelaar, AfriForum has rewritten the requirements into 33 questions that will be used to perform the landfill site audit.

AfriForum will within the next four weeks attempt to audit 120 landfill sites in those areas where AfriForum branches have been established. The results will subsequently be included in a report that will be presented to Nomvula Mokonyane, Minister of Environmental Affairs. “We are grateful for the cooperation of the Department of Environmental Affairs in this regard and that the Department’s Provincial Waste Management Officials have been made available to assist us with the audits,” concludes Grobbelaar.

In 2018 only 33 of the 114 landfill sites that were audited complied to the minimum requirements.

Support AfriForum’s landfill site audit project: SMS the name of your town to 45354 (R1).