Poverty and unemployment in the rural areas of the Eastern Cape is forcing thousands of vulnerable people into waste picking. There is growing recognition that waste re-claimers contribute to the local economy, to public health and to environmental sustainability. However, they often face low social status, tragic living and working conditions, and little support from local governments. The waste reclaimers of the Raymond Mhlaba Municipal area are unemployed, experiencing a poorer quality of life and feeling even more socially and economically excluded from the rest of society because of the “limitations” on landfill salvaging currently. Moreover, they have developed feelings of resentment and anger that have resulted in defiant acts of trespassing and theft. This social development study highlights the implications of landfill closure for waste salvagers in Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality. Landfilling has been the main method for municipal waste disposal in Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality. To combat the effects of uncontrolled release of landfill gases, the uncontrolled release of leachate that may affect water quality many landfills in the Eastern Cape are being considered for close down and for rehabilitation. To consider as well is the socio-economic backlog and anticipated population growth in the province, which means that landfill salvaging will continue to be an important source of revenue for the poor and homeless. This research used observation, semi-structured one-on-one interviewing, focus group interviewing and questionnaires as well as conducted a review of waste management policy-related documents and secondary data analysis in this qualitative research to analyse the social and the economic impacts. The research found that waste reclaimers in the Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality area disagreed with the closure of the Fort Beaufort landfill because of what the researcher assumed to be a lack of general environmental awareness and because of their vulnerability to poverty. Research findings also highlight that waste reclamation can be considered as a viable option to minimize waste at landfills and waste reclaimers have shown an increasing interest and commitment to being trained formally to continue reclamation work. This study has suggested disadvantages in rural landfill closure, without feasible alternatives. Focus must move away from extending waste collection and closing down landfills and instead improve final disposal and initiating minimisation- recycling programs as part of their strategies through the formation of waste cooperatives. This research suggests formalizing and controlling waste recovery to cater for the immediate and most basic needs of the poor. The recommendations will hopefully influence thinking about waste management policy planning and implementation in general, and be of service to furthering Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality achieve goals of sustainable employment creation and poverty alleviation.

This case study investigates domestic waste recycling schemes in the Cape Peninsula with special reference to educational aspects as a basis for developing educational resource materials. It explores the question: "In what way can projects for the recycling of domestic waste serve as a vehicle for environmental education?". The study employs the concept of education for the environment, following a socially critical approach with action-oriented and participatory dimensions. The research sample constituted interviewees and/or workshop participants from fourteen different municipalities, six recycling industries, one private waste contractor and the three most prominent voluntary organisations involved in recycling in the Cape Peninsula. A small-scale -interview survey was done to review existing recycling initiatives, combined with a case study of several small participatory initiatives towards educational resource development. The results were analysed qualitatively. The case study indicates that recycling initiatives have excellent potential for education for the environment. This potential was partially explored in this research by addressing key issues such as the role of local authorities in recycling of domestic waste, the short-term perspectives on the part of the local authorities, as well as the importance of and constraints on participation in recycling projects and in the research. Other issues discussed include the educational implications of personal (economic) benefits of recycling, the social development dimension of some recycling projects, the value of school children organising recycling projects, limited teacher participation in existing recycling projects, and the need for environmental education resource material. The major value of the project lies however in critical reflection on the research process. Recommendations regarding participatory resource development as an approach to socially critical environmental education are put forward to inform similar studies in the future and to elucidate the approach. Recommendations regarding the recycling of domestic waste in the Cape Peninsula are also made.

The main objective of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of the strategies employed by the City of Harare in household solid waste management. To achieve these, structured questionnaires, interviews, observations and focus group discussions were employed in data gathering together with secondary data. The study was conducted in Harare’s low, medium and high density income suburbs. Findings revealed that organic solid waste constituted the largest proportion of waste generated in Harare and other forms are also generated yet their collection is very minimal. Residents resort to illegal night dumping, resulting in the proliferation of associated diseases. In light of these findings, it was recommended that waste collection entities be capacitated, people be educated on waste recycling, reduction and reusing. A commission was to be put in place to ensure proper enforcement of waste legislation, effective and sustainable day in running of household solid waste management in the city / Environmental Sciences / M.Sc. (Environmental Management)

Cosmo City was established as a pilot project to integrate the low, middle and high income communities to live together and share common resources like schools, medical facilities, churches and shopping centres. Over a period of seven years, waste management has become a problem leading to littering, illegal dumping and overfilling of skips. Perceptions of waste management in different income households were studied. The specific objectives were, willingness of households to separate waste from source, health concerns emanating when one interacts with waste at the sources, effect of incentives on household’s willingness to separate waste from source, household’s opinion on including the waste pickers in the formal waste management system. Data was collected using structured questionnaire and interviews. The results indicated that 30% of low income households, 23% of middle income households and 10% of high income households recycle waste. The study revealed that 78% of low income households, 78% of middle income households and 80% of high income households were willing to sort waste from source. Overall results showed about 20% drop when sorting waste without incentives was suggested. 52% of low income households, 55% middle income households and 48% high income households rated hygiene as the major health concern on sorting waste from source. 85% of low income households, 77% of low income household, 71% of middle income and 78% of high income households support the incorporation of waste pickers in the formal waste management system. The results related to perceptions of the community on waste management suggest that the three different communities are willing to participate in waste management and support the incorporation of the waste pickers in the formal waste management system. In general this study should serve as a guideline for legislation, policy and regulations formulation. Integrated solid waste management that involves waste pickers and separation of waste from source can help with job creation, boosts the economy and deviate waste from landfilling to recycling. / Environmental Sciences / M. Sc. (Environmental Management)

In South Africa most of the municipal solid waste is currently removed and taken to land fill sites for engraving. A very small percentage of this is recycled due to lack of exploration of alternative means of further processing. In 2011 approximately 108 million tonnes of waste, mostly being general waste was generated in South Africa. Ninety eight (98) million tonnes of this waste was disposed of at landfill sites (The Department of Environmental Affairs [DEA], 2012). Environmental engineers are finding municipal solid waste management to be a challenge, similarly do the city planners and local administration. The main reason being the difficulty brought about by the complexity in composition of the waste material, no availability of waste minimization technologies and the scarcity of land for landfill sites and their environmental impact (Lal & Singh, 2012). Anyaegbunam (2013) recommend that there is a disposal technique that can convert most of the landfill waste at reduced amount of money to what is being paid on other disposal techniques nowadays, regardless of its form or composition and produce an excess of clean energy, and that technique is called Plasma Gasification which carries a high capability of being economically efficient. According to Young (2010), plasma arc Gasification is a high-temperature pyrolysis process whereby the organics of waste solids (carbon-based materials) are converted into syngas. The syngas can also be sent to gas turbines or reciprocating engines to produce electricity. Few of these plants exist in the world, however there is none in South Africa due to municipal budgetary constraints and lack of evidence for return on investment. Gasification can be described as a thermo-chemical process wherein carbonaceous or carbon-rich feed stocks, for instance tree trimmings or biomass, coal, and petro-coke are transformed into a complex gas containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide (and smaller quantities of carbon dioxide and other trace gases) under high pressure, oxygen exhausted, strong heat and/or steam environments (SRS Energy Solutions, 2016) The problem of electricity shortages continues to increase and communities are unable to cope with the continuous rising electricity bills. It is forecast that electricity demand will grow by approximately 85% and thereby reaching 31 700TWH (terawatt hours) in the year 2035. This growth rate is anticipated at an annual rate of 2.4% of which the economic and population growth will be the driving force, while on the other hand the daily increase of waste at landfill sites poses many problems with regards to the lifespan of the landfill in case green technological disposal processes are not introduced.

Thesis (MTech (Public Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2012. / One of the greatest problems Mozambique is currently facing is the increased involvement of sectors in producing large amounts of solid waste on a daily basis. These sectors are involved in activities that take place in homes, industry, mining, agriculture and commerce. As a result, this problem needs to be treated efficiently by the Municipality of Maputo. Solid waste produced each day in Maputo is not only an aesthetic problem but poses a threat to citizens' health and it damages the environment. With the production of large amounts of waste each day, the Municipality of Maputo is faced with an ineffective solid waste management system. This ineffectiveness is due to a number of reasons, which include lack of resources, inadequate or no staff training, poor management of solid waste by both the municipal and the government, inappropriate laws to regulate solid waste collection, poor control of such laws in terms of removal and disposal of the waste, using past colonial methods for dealing with solid waste and poor community involvement, The problem not only affects the Municipality of Maputo but it also affects both citizens and the environment. Ineffective solid waste management is linked to poor management, lack of resources, poor staff training, and unskilled public officials. The city gets dirtier as the amount of waste increases day by day, due to the fact that citizens living in rural areas have immigrated to the city looking for work after the civil war, which took place between 1977 and 1994. Emerging from a severely damaged war-torn economy, Mozambique is still in the process of reconstituting many of its public institutions. Communities, local government, industry, commerce, civil society, academics and religious organisations can no longer turn a blind eye to poor solid waste management. Instead, they need to join to fight against poor management of solid waste. The current situation demonstrates that too few individuals, non-profit organisations and private companies are involved in solid waste management activities. Effective solid waste management can only be effective if it engages all producers of waste and captures the policy strategies, planning and challenges of sustainable development.

Thesis (MTech (Electrical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / The generation of municipal solid waste has increased significantly due to the exponential population growth and it has become a global issue. Gasification technology, an alternative method for waste treatment is a thermochemical process where carbon-based material are exposed to an environment deprived in oxygen, was used for this project. The aim of this thesis is to study the gasification of plastic waste which is a potential alternative energy source using infrared heaters. To achieve this goal, fundamental studies have been numerically and experimentally conducted for an infrared gasifier and subsequently establishing the temperature profile for gasification using a small scale reactor. A detailed study on low density polyethylene was conducted using Infrared Spectrometry and thermal decomposition techniques such as Thermogravimetry and Differential Scanning Calorimetry were performed to establish the temperature at which plastic pellets sample used for this research gasify. The gasification behaviour of pelletized low density polyethylene (plastic pellets) was tested and three case studies were done to evaluate the most suitable temperature profile for the reactor to gasify the low density polyethylene at high temperature for less amount of time. Subsequently, the reactor model was simulated and results validate the use of reactor at an optimum temperature of 800 °C for a gasification process with less residue content. The reactor designed for this research is fully functional and validates the temperature behaviour predicted during simulation. The experimental results show infrared heaters are suitable for gas production using this gasification process.

Waste is not only harmful to the environment alone but it is also a threat to human health and as such its proper management becomes critical. This study which adopted a qualitative approach focused on the review of policies for sustainable solid waste management service in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in an effort to seek what the municipality’s Solid Waste Department should consider in ensuring that all the communities live in a litter free, clean and healthy environment, and ensure that such a service is received by all communities within its jurisdiction. The most sustainable solid waste management strategy would be to adopt the solid waste hierarchy of promoting waste minimisation, re-use, recycling, waste treatment and disposal as the last resort.

M.A.(Geography) / The prevention of environmental deterioration and the concept of sustainable development has become a major concern worldwide. However, increasingly affluent lifestyles along with continual commercial and industrial growth have led to the rapid increase in waste production (Renoua et al., 2008). The most common method of dealing with this production of waste is the disposal thereof by landfill, although this technique is widely viewed as unsustainable. Landfilling is critical to integrated waste management in South Africa due to its simplicity and cost effectiveness (Allen, 2001). Thus, there is a great need for environmentally acceptable landfill management practices. This research is primarily concerned with landfill management strategies and their effect on operational and management issues. A comparative analysis of the Marie Louise and Rooikraal landfill sites was carried out to distinguish differences in landfill management strategies and their outcome on operational and management issues. A concept, indicator, variable approach was used as comparative framework, while external audit reports, landfill management plans, and interviews were used as data sources identifying indicators and variables for analysis. Findings revealed that the Rooikraal landfill has been performing at a high standard, while the Marie Louise landfill has been underperforming due to a number of management failures. Factors that could have contributed to this failure include: external factors and its strain on effective management, capacity of local governments to deliver services with regard to waste management, issues surrounding co-operative governance, legal enforcement and compliance, and lack of control and awareness over landfill operations. These issues are direct consequences of landfill management and operation through municipal entities, making landfill management through municipal entities a key area of concern for effective landfill operations.

M.Tech. (Chemical Engineering) / The design process was carried out in two stages: feedstock analysis and system design. Under feedstock analysis, the study investigated the amount of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) generated at the study area which was situated at the University of Johannesburg’s Doornfontein Campus (UJ DFC) in downtown Johannesburg South Africa. Furthermore, the feedstock analyses involved characterisation studies on the target waste under which several laboratory tests were undertaken. The system design involved sizing of the suitable biogas digester to be used in the system applying mathematical models and feedstock parameters obtained from the feedstock analyses. Via the application of the Simple Multi-Attribute Rating (SMART) technique of multiple-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) as a decision support tool, the most preferred option of biogas plant model was selected from a list of potential alternatives available on the market. And, in addition, a suitable site around the study area was selected by applying the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) technique of MCDA. Other system components and accessories such as the piping, scrubbers and valves were sized, selected, integrated into the system and finally layout drawings were produced using Inventor computer aided drafting (CAD) Software. Furthermore, feasibility assessments were conducted on the proposed system such as energy usage assessments and economic analyses using the net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and benefit-cost ratio (BCR) techniques...