Thesis (M.Sc. Environmental Science)--University of Waikato, 2008. / Title from PDF cover (viewed April 24, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 138-147)

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1986. / Also available in print.

Thesis(MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study excavates a century’s worth of the history of household waste in South Africa, from 1890-1996. It shows that waste history is entangled with histories of disease and poor sanitation, advances in technology, the impact of war, environmental concerns and – perhaps above all – shifting socio-economic circumstances. Using a socio-environmental analytical framework, this analysis of waste history unearths empirical archival data and oral testimony, to contextualise themes of gender, race, class and nationalism in order to place rubbish within the wider historical debates in South Africa. This study uses Rubbish Theory and Broken Windows Theory as well as concepts of “Othering” and the “Sanitation Syndrome” to explore the role of waste in the construction of racial identities and perceptions. This thesis shows that Apartheid should not be seen as a watershed within this waste history, but rather as a continuation of colonial ideas of cleanliness that helped to perpetuate racist stereotypes. This study argues that the lack of waste services in “locations” during this time helped to contribute to the perception of the urban African as the unsanitary Other. The state and civic societies fostered gender roles, which (coupled with wartime nationalist propaganda) helped in shaping waste behaviour promoted by the National Anti-Waste Organisation (NAWO) during the Second World War (WWII). In the years after WWII, the threats of wartime shortages and enthusiastic solutions suggested to municipalities to “end the waste problem” were thwarted by the spread of the landfill as an even more convenient disposal method. The implementation of Apartheid, especially the Group Areas Act (No 41 of 1950) and the rise of consumer society, led to increasingly divergent experiences of waste for urban Africans and whites. The thesis uses a case study of the Devon Valley Landfill community outside of Stellenbosch. This ethnographic history explores notions of the “Subaltern” in order to give this history a human face. The diachronic analysis of this community offers a lens into ideas of “ordentlikheid” (decency), “weggooi mense” (throwaway people) and how these waste-pickers experience the environment in which they live. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie grawe ’n eeu se geskiedenis van huishoudelike afval in Suid-Afrika op, van 1890-1996. Dit toon dat die geskiedenis van afval verweef is met geskiedenisse van siekte en swak sanitasie, tegnologiese vooruitgang, die impak van oorlog, omgewingskwessies en – dalk bowenal – veranderende sosio-ekonomiese omstandighede. Deur middel van ’n sosio-omgewings-analitiese raamwerk ontgin hierdie analise empiriese argiefdata en mondelingse getuienis om temas van geslag, ras, klas en nasionalisme te kontekstualiseer ten einde afval binne die breër historiese debatte in Suid-Afrika te plaas. Die studie gebruik Afval-teorie en Gebreekte Vensters-teorie sowel as begrippe van “Othering” en die “Sanitasie-sindroom” om die rol van afval in die totstandkoming van rasse-identiteite en -persepsies te ondersoek. Die tesis toon dat Apartheid nie as ’n waterskeiding in hierdie afval-geskiedenis gesien moet word nie, maar eerder as ’n voortsetting van koloniale idees oor higiëne wat gehelp het om rasse-stereotipes te perpetueer. Die studie argumenteer dat die gebrek aan afvalverwyderingsdienste in “lokasies” in die tyd bygedra het tot die persepsie van die stedelike Afrikaan as die onhigiëniese Ander. Die staat en burgerlike samelewings het geslagsrolle gekweek, wat (tesame met oorlogtydse nasionalistiese propaganda) gehelp het met die vestiging van afval-gedrag wat bevorder is deur die National Anti-Waste Organisation (NAWO) gedurende die Tweede Wêreldoorlog. In die jare na dié oorlog is die bedreigings van oorlogtydse tekorte en die entoesiastiese oplossings wat vir munisipaliteite aanbeveel is om die “afvalprobleem te beëindig”, gefnuik deur die toenemende gebruik van stortingsterreine as ’n selfs geriefliker afvalverwyderingsmetode. Die implementering van Apartheid, veral die Groepsgebiedewet (No. 41 van 1950) en die opkoms van die verbruikersamelewing, het gelei tot toenemend uiteenlopende ervarings van afval onder stedelike Afrikane en wit mense. Die tesis maak gebruik van ’n gevallestudie van die gemeenskap van die Devonvallei-stortingsterrein buite Stellenbosch. Hierdie etnografiese geskiedenis verken denkbeelde van die “Ondergeskikte” om ’n menslike gesig aan die geskiedenis te gee. Die diakroniese analise van die gemeenskap is ’n venster op idees van “ordentlikheid”, “weggooimense” en hoe hierdie afvalontginners die omgewing waarin hulle woon, beleef.

Waste management is a global challenge due to high waste generation resulting from high industrialization, urbanization and challenges relating to the efficient implementation of waste management policies acts and standards. Although South Africa has established a number of good waste management policies and related acts and standards, most municipalities still find it challenging to efficiently implement waste management strategies. Ekurhuleni Municipality is facing challenges with the implementation of effective waste management strategies and compliance to the National Environmental Management Waste Act (2008), (NEMWA) (Act No 59 of 2008). An evaluation of the gaps that exist between NEMWA and the local implementation in the formal and informal parts of the Ekurhuleni Municipality was undertaken in this study. Data on the waste management scenario as collected through questionnaires, interviews and observations revealed that differences relating to the poor establishment of an integrated approach to waste management exist between NEMWA and the local implementation of the act. This was realized through the fact that there is limited community education on waste management, no waste recycling facilities in some residences, irregular and insufficient collection of waste and non compliance with tariff payments for most informal residents and some formal residents. Differences also exist in the waste management strategies between the formal and informal areas of the municipality primarily due to the fact that the informal settlements are mostly unplanned and considered illegal. According to this study, informal residents are not billed for waste management services and as such most of them do not pay for waste management services. To that end, waste is not efficiently managed due to municipal financial constraints. Waste management challenges in Ekurhuleni Municipality are also attributed to lack of or insufficient knowledge regarding sustainable waste management practices and its benefits amongst the waste generators and some waste management employees. / Environmental Sciences / M.A. (Environmental Management)

Solid waste management in South Africa has been focussing on the technical issues of waste disposal with little attention paid to the social and economic aspects of households. It is important to find out the impact of the attitude and perception of households on solid waste management, especially in low-income areas to be able to deal with the deplorabe domestic solid waste management in such areas. The quantity of solid waste generated in low-income areas is often assumed to be less than the solid waste generated in high-income neighbourhoods. In most of the townships of low-income households in Cape Town, the residents live next to mountains of solid waste which is not the case in middle and high income areas. This clearly has a negative effect on the environment and human health. Tafelsig is one of the low-income Cape Flats townships where the open spaces and green areas are dumping areas. The small yard that people own is often unclean. The aim of the study was to examine how households residing in the low-income neighbourhood (Tafelsig, Mitchell's Plain) view domestic solid waste and its management. The study explored the perceptions, attitudes and behaviour of these households towards the production and management of sold waste. Issues relating to the degradation of their environment and to solid waste mismanagement were also examined.

Solid waste management in South Africa has been focussing on the technical issues of waste disposal with little attention paid to the social and economic aspects of households. It is important to find out the impact of the attitude and perception of households on solid waste management, especially in low-income areas to be able to deal with the deplorabe domestic solid waste management in such areas. The quantity of solid waste generated in low-income areas is often assumed to be less than the solid waste generated in high-income neighbourhoods. In most of the townships of low-income households in Cape Town, the residents live next to mountains of solid waste which is not the case in middle and high income areas. This clearly has a negative effect on the environment and human health. Tafelsig is one of the low-income Cape Flats townships where the open spaces and green areas are dumping areas. The small yard that people own is often unclean. The aim of the study was to examine how households residing in the low-income neighbourhood (Tafelsig, Mitchell's Plain) view domestic solid waste and its management. The study explored the perceptions, attitudes and behaviour of these households towards the production and management of sold waste. Issues relating to the degradation of their environment and to solid waste mismanagement were also examined.

Waste management is a global challenge due to high waste generation resulting from high industrialization, urbanization and challenges relating to the efficient implementation of waste management policies acts and standards. Although South Africa has established a number of good waste management policies and related acts and standards, most municipalities still find it challenging to efficiently implement waste management strategies. Ekurhuleni Municipality is facing challenges with the implementation of effective waste management strategies and compliance to the National Environmental Management Waste Act (2008), (NEMWA) (Act No 59 of 2008). An evaluation of the gaps that exist between NEMWA and the local implementation in the formal and informal parts of the Ekurhuleni Municipality was undertaken in this study. Data on the waste management scenario as collected through questionnaires, interviews and observations revealed that differences relating to the poor establishment of an integrated approach to waste management exist between NEMWA and the local implementation of the act. This was realized through the fact that there is limited community education on waste management, no waste recycling facilities in some residences, irregular and insufficient collection of waste and non compliance with tariff payments for most informal residents and some formal residents. Differences also exist in the waste management strategies between the formal and informal areas of the municipality primarily due to the fact that the informal settlements are mostly unplanned and considered illegal. According to this study, informal residents are not billed for waste management services and as such most of them do not pay for waste management services. To that end, waste is not efficiently managed due to municipal financial constraints. Waste management challenges in Ekurhuleni Municipality are also attributed to lack of or insufficient knowledge regarding sustainable waste management practices and its benefits amongst the waste generators and some waste management employees. / Environmental Sciences / M.A. (Environmental Management)

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

The disposal of waste into landfill sites is currently the most commonly employed method of dealing with waste in South Africa as well as internationally. However the global trend towards operating waste management systems in a more sustainable way has lead to the need to reverse this situation towards a waste management system that predominantly makes use of waste minimization schemes to deal with waste and relies minimally on waste disposal. The focus of this research was to determine which waste minimization schemes would be most effective in the Municipal Solid Waste Management Systems (MSWMS) of Cape Town and Johannesburg with regard to achieving this reversal in an economically sustainable manner. The method used to achieve this objective was threefold, firstly requiring the development of a waste flow diagram for each respective city, followed by the development of a waste stream model based on the specific flow diagram and finally the extension of this material model into an economic model. The models were developed in Microsoft Excel and work on the premise that each particular stream (separate collected waste, transfer station waste, etc) of the MSWMS concerned has a particular associated cost (defined as cost per ton of waste processed). The model operates on the principle that under several pre-determined constraints the Excel Solver function calculates the optimal flow rates of the various waste streams which give the minimum overall MSWMS cost for future years. The developed model has shown that the recovery of waste reduces the overall MSWMS costs until a threshold value (at which point under the proposed system all economically recoverable waste has been exhausted). Different waste minimization schemes were found to be appropriate for each respective city. However, the use of Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) to recover recyclables has been shown to be a viable waste recovery scheme for both Cape Town and Johannesburg. Cape Town is in the process of implementing the development of MRFs in conjunction with existing transfer stations, while it is envisaged that MRFs will be developed on all of Johannesburg's Municipal landfill sites in the future. Significant changes to the MSWMS of both cities are required for their respective landfilling waste streams to be substantially reduced in accordance with the Polokwane Declaration. Decreasing the landfilled waste stream is not only required by legislation, but the developed model has shown that the recovery of waste also reduces the overall MSWMS costs. / Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

by Leung Chi Kam Joseph. / Thesis (M.Ph.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1985 / Bibliography: leaves 178-198