Space is running out to store thousands of tonnes of waste generated monthly in popular coastal holiday and retirement towns along the Garden Route.
The matter is now critical as the region’s interim solution since the early 2000s, a landfill site owned by PetroSA near Mossel Bay, will reach capacity by February 2024.
Now, finally, a solution is on the cards to resolve the region's waste disposal predicament. The Garden Route district municipality (GRDM) will soon start construction of the district’s first regional municipal landfill site outside Mossel Bay at a cost of R319m.
George, Mossel Bay, Knysna and Bitou municipalities have been collectively delivering on average 7,000 to 7,500 tonnes of waste per month to the interim site, transported hundreds of kilometres by road in trucks.
The project is a major victory after nearly 17 years of processes and delays. Waste management has become a major concern on the Garden Route as population growth in the region soared since the early 2000s — causing landfill saturation in ecologically vulnerable towns where suitable land for larger landfill sites are not feasible.
The four participating municipalities are George, Mossel Bay, Knysna and Bitou (Plettenberg Bay).
GRDM district waste manager Johan Gie said the site for the new facility was handed to Gauteng-based Tefla Group on June 13 and earthworks were expected to begin in July. “The first goal is the completion of Cell 1A before the PetroSA waste disposal contract expires in February.”
The new 205-hectare site, owned by GRDM, is situated just west of the PetroSA Gas to Liquid plant in Mossel Bay.
The facility will have three waste cells inside the approximate 105-hectare project footprint. It will collectively hold waste for the next 60 years based on population growth patterns for the region.
The first cell, which will be constructed with all the associated infrastructure, will have an expected lifespan of 20 to 25 years. The entire project is expected to be complete by March 2025, depending on weather and other contributory factors.
— GRDM district waste manager,
Johan Gie
The remainder of the property is earmarked for long-term lease, preferably to independent power producers and waste-to-energy initiatives. The site also has access to a section of railway track should a waste-by-rail programme become viable.
“The first cell, which will be constructed with all the associated infrastructure, will have an expected lifespan of 20 to 25 years. The entire project is expected to be complete by March 2025, depending on weather and other contributory factors,” said Gie.
The regional waste management facility will contain a domestic waste cell (Class B) and a separate hazardous waste cell (class A) to accommodate harmful waste with low and medium hazard ratings. Other infrastructure includes roads, stormwater pipelines, a leachate storage dam, contaminated stormwater dam, offices, laboratory, weighbridges, a workshop and security infrastructure. Provision has also been made for a waste tyre recycling facility.
Cell 1 (comprising of Cell 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D) will cover 26 hectares and have an estimated 3,822,858m³ capacity. It will be six metres deep and allowed to fill up above ground level for up to 12 metres in accordance with the waste management licence conditions issued by the national department of forestry, fishery and environment.
Cells look like rectangular-shaped dams isolated from the ground soil by specialised general waste liners including components imported from Germany.
Cost to municipalities for use of the site will be divided proportionally between George (42%), Mossel Bay (33%), Knysna (14%) and Bitou (11%) based on their annual waste disposal tonnages. The district’s other three local authorities, Oudtshoorn, Hessequa and Kannaland, are not expected to participate in the foreseeable future as their landfill sites should keep going for at least another 20 years based on population growth figures.
The location of the site at Mossel Bay will, however, continue to have unavoidable, huge transport cost implications in addition to site costs. The furthest municipality, Bitou, makes a 300km round-trip per vehicle and Knysna drives a 220km round-trip per truck. Transport costs for these municipalities were not available.
The largest contributor of waste to the site, with an average of 3,500 tonnes per month, is George municipality, which spent R6.25m on waste transport in the 2021/22 financial year. The municipality also serves Uniondale, 111km away from the George waste depot.
Cost implications are among the main motivators for municipalities to have implemented major waste reduction initiatives. Garden Route municipalities were among the first in the country to implement multicoloured refuse bag systems to separate recyclables, garden waste and household refuse at source. GRDM and local municipalities continue with extensive education programmes and awareness campaigns promoting separation of waste, composting and recycling. George and Mossel Bay have composting and dedicated building rubble sites attached to community upliftment programmes to reduce tonnage.
Waste reduction has been relatively successful. Despite huge population growth, waste to site has remained relatively similar, even dipping slightly from 7,154 tonnes per annum in the 2013/14 financial year to 6,679 tonnes by 2022. However, these figures are likely to rise after a surge of mid and post-Covid-19 migrations from cities to the area.
Project history
Until the early 2000s the Garden Route was mostly seasonal and the population in some towns dropped to as little as 10% of holiday capacity. Holiday homes stood empty for most of the year. This changed dramatically when the region became among popular migration destination.
Municipal landfill sites in Mossel Bay, Knysna, Bitou and George had reached full capacity even before migration to the region.
GRDM started investigating the establishment of a regional site in 2006 and found three options. “Impacts of waste sites are significant, especially in terms of contamination of groundwater. Nine different specialist studies were done during the environmental impact assessment which eliminated all other sites except Mossel Bay,” said Gie.
GRDM municipal manager Monde Stratu said the site handover was a milestone. “I never thought this site would happen in my time at the municipality, but now at the end of my term, I will be able to say there is a large facility on the N2 that services four local municipalities.”
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