HOW YOU ARE AFFECTED
South Africans create an estimated 122 million tonnes of waste per year. Only 10% is recycled or re-used, while the rest goes to landfills or is dumped illegally. While all South Africans have a right to a clean environment, only 6 in 10 households have access to regular refuse removal services.
The few remaining landfill sites in South Africa are spilling over and closing down. But other solutions for disposing of our waste are not being created. There are informal settlements across the country without enough wheelie bins, skips or rubbish bags, and some that garbage trucks never visit. Street corners and rivers are filling with waste. In some cases, people and businesses from wealthier neighbourhoods dump their waste in and around informal settlements.
Our waste problem doesn’t only threaten people’s health, but also their sense of safety, recognition and belonging in the places that they live.
Our waste problem has consequences for the poorest among us
Poor waste management reproduces inequality
Under apartheid South Africa, all people classed as ‘non-white’ were dispossessed of their land and removed to designated areas. These were often on the outskirts of cities, near areas of industrial activity, like factories, airports and landfill sites. In other words, Black people (including those racialised as Indian and Coloured) were often ‘dumped’ next to waste sites.
Today, peri-urban informal settlements continue to be located near dumpsites and industrial zones. To add to this, these settlements have limited infrastructure and basic services, which means they are often not properly catered for by municipal refuse removal.
Waste mismanagement is a threat to the environment, biodiversity and our climate
Because of the methane they release, landfills are the last resort in the waste hierarchy. Depending on how they are built, landfills can also pollute soil and water. Still, landfills remain the final destination for the vast majority of South African waste. Waste that ends up in the ocean is also a threat to many marine species.
When our environment is sick, we are sick
Poorly managed waste releases air pollutants into the atmosphere, contaminates freshwater sources and pollutes the soil. This, in turn, can increase the toxic chemicals in crops, fish and livestock that we eat. In South Africa, people living close to waste sites, because they are likely to live in underserved informal settlements, already have poorer access to healthcare services and poorer living conditions. Living in proximity to waste sites has been shown to put them at even greater risk of long-term illness.