Landfill Waste Management in Johannesburg: A Focus on Plastic Waste

Despite the world battling to curtail the usage of plastic, the demand for plastic usage in the construction, healthcare, electronics, agriculture, packaging and automotive industries is on the rise.

The quantity of plastics produced far exceeds the amount being recycled, recovered, or re-used, leading to massive landfill waste accumulation, open burning, and pollution of water systems and streets. Plastic materials are non- biodegradable, meaning that they will exist for more than 60 years at the landfill without breaking down to matter, however this causes landfills to be filled at full capacity at a fast rate. This study investigated the amount of plastic waste discarded at the Robinsons Deep landfill, its composition, quality and quantity.

This study was able to show the type of plastic waste which is discarded at the landfill from different locations. Type of plastic waste such as household, construction, agricultural and industrial was identified. Single use plastics including food packaging, plastic utensils and straws make up the largest portion of waste discarded in landfills. The most single use plastics are made from PS plastics. Plastic waste pickers prefer collecting HDPE plastics over PS plastics, as the latter is less favourable for recycling and offers lower financial returns.

Lack of monitoring of dumping sites and handling of waste from the source of disposal can create environmental health problems such as pest infestation, flooding caused by blocked drainage and water contamination. Open burning of waste emits greenhouse gases into the air which exacerbates climate change, causing a change to the weather patterns which in turn result in droughts and floods.

Problem Statement

However, plastic persists in landfills and the environment for 60-100 years, it biodegraded under natural agents, this extreme slow rate of bio degradation of plastics causes landfills to overflow causing ecological degradation (Jambeck et al., 2015). This longevity means that plastic waste continues to accumulate and filling up space. Due to the overflowing of landfills, a need for more landfills is created or dumpsites reducing land available. The problem starts with numerous human activities which cause a high number of plastic productions which is indirectly proportional to what landfills can contain per given time (Carter, Kenward & Stone, 2018). Figure 1 shows illegal dumping of plastics in Johannesburg, Randburg.

Literature Review

Circular Economy theory this model encourages resource production and consumption which emphasizes on prevention, reusing and recycling of materials and products. Through this strategy climate change can be reduced, biodiversity can be recovered, and pollution can be reduced. Circular Economy encourages the usage of product for a long period of time to avoid recreation of products which has negative environmental impacts (Geissdoerfer et al.,2017). Core principles of the circular economy are designed for longevity, rethink waste, maintain and extend product life, encouragement of reuse and regeneration and restoration of natural systems (Ellen McArthur Foundation, 2013).

Cradle to Cradle

The cradle-to-cradle theory was introduced by William McDonough and Michael Braungart representing an approach to sustainability and waste management. Cradle to cradle is about remaking things the way they were made, so that no waste exists, it emphasizes on reducing waste, re-using waste materials or recycling them (McDonough and Braungart,2002). Figure 2 shows the cradle-to-cradle system. The cradle-to-cradle system aims to create a closed loop process which reuses, recycles and biodegrade's products to eliminate waste. It is a contradiction of the cradle to grave system whereby products are made, used and buried in landfills.

Waste Hierarchy Theory

This theory encourages environmental sustainability by attaining a level of resource efficiency through promoting sustainable consumption and implementing waste prevention strategies.

Waste Prevention
Re-Use
Recycling
Recovery
Disposal

Waste prevention is all about preventing the production of waste, this appears at the top of the waste hierarchy as shown in figure 3 because it is the most desirable waste management practice. Waste prevention involves avoidance, reduction and minimizing the use of hazardous materials which negatively impact the environment (Merrington et al., 2010). Waste prevention can be classified into qualitative and quantitative categories. Quantitative waste prevention focuses on the mass of the waste while qualitative waste prevention analyses the type of waste (Zorpas & Lasaridi., 2013).

The term reuse refers to the usage of a product or material more than once, for example donating old clothes, using a container to carry food more than once that using single use plastic. This method reduces excess amount of waste that ends up disposed at landfills. Toronto, Canada implements the reuse strategy by offering incentives to residents that reuse shopping bags and mugs (City of Toronto, 2008).

The process of recycling converts waste which has already been used into new materials, the waste is usually sold to buy-back centres who then convert the product into a new product through heating processes (Kalair et al.,2021). Recycling process involves collecting waste, separating then the processing of waste into new products. Recycling minimizes the cost of transporting waste to landfills and reduces pollution in the environment through leachate and gas generation. Recyclable materials include iron, steel, glass bottles, paper, wood, cardboard and plastics. In South Africa waste pickers help the socio-economic of cities because it provides an income for them. Waste pickers sell the collected waste to buy back centres, drop off centres and packaging companies (Barford & Ahmad.,2021).

Waste recovery transforms waste to serve a new purpose by replacing other materials. The process recovers useful materials to create a new product and in return energy is generated such as gasification and pyrolysis (Huang et al., 2022). The reprocessing of waste shreds melts and reforms materials into pellets sometimes chemicals are used to break down plastics into monomer during the recovery process (Ndobe, 2023).

The disposal stage is the final waste discarding stage whereby materials and products are disposed at a landfill. This is the most undesirable waste strategy because it is environmental unfriendly, its causes land pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and poses health risks (Westlake,2014). If not monitored disposal of waste can encourage illegal dumping, open fires and water pollution. When disposal is the only method to follow waste management laws should be followed.

Waste Management Practices in South Africa

Plastic straws, stirrers and spoons and forks are classified as polyethylene terephthalate polymers (PET). The South African government has taken the initiative of replacing these single-use plastic products made from PET in restaurants, supermarkets, hospitals and schools with those made from paper (SA Plastics., 2021). South Africa implemented the plastic-levy in 2003 by charging for plastic bags at a price of R0.46 per 24l plastic bag in all retail shops (Dikgang et al., 2012). In 2021, Woolworths totally stopped selling plastic bags to encourage customers to reuse environmentally friendly bags (SA Plastics., 2021).

Projects that convert plastic waste to energy have taken off in South Africa which includes the conversion of nonrecyclable plastic waste into energy through pyrolysis (Huang et al., 2022). Pikitup has an incinerator site in the KwaZulu Natal Province, which incinerates solid waste in landfills and extracts gas from this waste, electricity is the final product during this process (Pereira et al., 2020). The City of Johannesburg implemented the separation at source initiative, whereby waste is separated into 3 bags of paper, dry recyclables (plastics, tins and glass) and residual waste (Rasmeni et al., 2019).

Most shopping centres in Johannesburg now separate recyclable waste at source or before transporting it to the landfill, which promotes recycling (SA Plastics., 2021). A private company collects the recyclables, and the residual is collected by Pikitup, a private company which owns and operates waste treatment plants in South Africa (Carter et al.,2016)). It operates garden waste sites which the public can dispose of garden waste; the waste is then transferred to a composting site at Panorama in the West Rand (Rasmeni et al., 2019). Pikitup offers daily cleaning programmes to informal settlements.

Gaps in Existing Literature

Landfill plays a big role in South Africa’s solid waste management system. In South Africa there is a lack of literature on how landfills are operated, challenges faced at landfills and how plastic waste is managed. Existing literature does not give specific details abut they type, quantity and composition of plastic waste which occupies Johannesburg’s landfills. Plastics in landfills can only be reduced if more plastic waste is sorted at source into different bags to encourage recycling. The public is not well educated on the impact of plastics in the environment and how to reduce plastic waste. There is no form of responsibility or ownership from the public to participate or take part in reducing plastic waste and this is because of the lack of awareness and educational campaigns.

Conclusion and Discussion

The type of plastic waste from different origins. The main sources of waste in the City of Johannesburg, like major global cities, include households, commercial and educational institutions, construction and manufacturing industries, market centres, and city parks. This study revealed that household and commercial waste contains significant amounts of recyclable materials such as paper, cardboard, plastics, wood, glass, and metal. These categories also make up most of the waste sent to landfill sites.

Main source of waste discarded at the landfill site from the JHB market comprises mainly of green waste such as vegetables, fruits, flowers, plastics and vegetable packaging. The waste is dumped at the Robinsons Deep landfill, thereafter this waste is used to foam composite which is then sold to farmers.

Braamfontein is a suburb with offices, residential places and schools. The waste is usually clean (bottles are most likely to be used once then discarded) and made up of papers, household waste, sanitary waste, e-waste (earphones, microwaves, chargers etc) and books. Universities have implemented recycling bins at campuses to encourage students to participate in separating at source as a part of recycling which contributes to a greener environment. University bins have green waste canisters, the green waste is used to form composite which is used at the school premises for agricultural purposes.

Bedfordview is a residential suburb situated North East of the Robinson Deep Landfill in Johannesburg. Rosettenville is located on the South of the Robinson Deep Landfill, an area which consists of residential places, small businesses, schools and clinics. The waste received at the Robinson Deep Landfill from Bedfordview and Rosettenville comprises of household, organic, construction, e-waste and hazardous waste. Single use plastics are disposed of at the Robinson Deep landfill by different waste management companies such as Interwaste, EnviroServ, Wasteplan and SmartMatta.

Households contribute 40-45% of single use plastics, approximately 20- 25% of single use plastics are contributed by commercial and retail waste which include restaurants. Industries contribute to the quantity of single use plastics because most of their goods are transported using these plastics. Social gathering and churches contribute approximately 5-10% of the single use plastics which are usually discarded on-site and mixed. Most durable plastics disposed at the landfill come from households, commercial and construction sectors. This type of waste is difficult to recycle because it includes broken and old items.

Agricultural plastics come from commercial farms, subsistence farms, horticulture and landscaping companies and food- processing companies. Agricultural plastics are less desirable for recycling because they are usually contaminated by chemicals and soil.

Plastic is classified based on its chemical composition, structure and recyclability. The composition of plastic waste discarded at the Robinsons Deep landfill is made up of polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE), Polypropylene (PP), Polystyrene (PS) and other miscellaneous plastics (SA Plastics., 2021). Quantity of plastic waste Plastic bottles and containers are disposed of at the Robinson Deep Landfill by Pikitup, Johannesburg’s waste management company. Around 40-50% of these plastic bottles originates from households and is often contaminated, as they are mixed with other waste. Approximately 20-25% of the plastic waste comes from commercial and retail sources, while 10-15% is contributed by industrial sectors. Informal pickers usually search for recyclable plastics before the waste is picked up by the waste management company. The smallest portion of plastic bottles, around 5-10%, comes from institutions like schools and hospitals. The weighbridge operators mentioned that the landfill receives 1500-2000 tons of waste per day, with single use plastics being the most abundant waste collected.

Conclusion

The household waste ranks the highest for most types of plastic waste discarded at the Robinsons landfill, which is proportional to population. Household waste comprises of green waste, plastic materials, papers, wood, glass and e-waste. More HDPE plastics are picked by waste pickers to be taken for recycling at the buy-back centre; meanwhile a lower percentage of PS plastics are picked for recycling. One of the ways to manage plastic management is to control how the consumers dispose waste from their households. In overall, if the amount of discarded plastic waste is minimised then the amount of waste which ends up buried in landfills will decrease.