The City of Cape Town is the first municipality in the country to introduce a new waste management by-law in line with new national legislation.

The new by-law will regulate recovery and recycling activities apart from the usual waste activities, and set down minimum requirements for waste storage and infrastructure.

It was presented to Council on Monday, 30 March 2009, and will now be forwarded to the Provincial Government for promulgation.

“The Integrated Waste Management By-law is aimed at regulating and controlling the management of waste within the city of Cape Town. It replaces old by-laws, thus ensuring a uniform approach to waste management throughout the city,” said Alderman Clive Justus, Mayoral Committee Member for Utilities.

He said the new by-law is closely aligned with the National Waste Management Strategy, as well as the National Environmental Management: Waste Act 59, which was gazetted on 10 March 2009.

“It is also underpinned by the City’s Integrated Waste Management Policy, which was adopted in 2006,” Justus said.

Cape Town’s 3,2 million residents produce some 6 000 tons of waste per day - an average of 2 kg per person per day. With waste generation growing at 7% a year, the city’s landfill sites at Vissershok, Bellville South and Strandfontein are almost filled to capacity.

Barry Coetzee, the City’s Head of Integrated Waste Management Policy, said the City’s broad obligation is “to ensure that waste management services are provided to maintain a safe and healthy environment and minimise resource and human impacts due to waste.”

In terms of the new national legislation, municipalities will regulate all entities that provide waste management services or generate waste. Accreditation will be required to ensure that all service providers abide by the City’s by-laws and general environmental legislation.

There is also provision for the separation of waste that has value and can be recycled. The City is already piloting this in certain residential areas, and will roll this out on a broader scale subject to budget constraints.

The by-law spells out the City’s rights regarding waste management services, and its obligations regarding cleaning and cleansing, the responsible disposal of waste that cannot be recovered for recycling; collection and recovery for recycling, and the processing and treatment of waste and recyclable materials.

The by-law also provides for the minimisation of waste by industries, commerce, government departments and major events organisers, and places an onus on businesses to provide waste and recycling information.

The new national legislation also requires municipalities to recover costs for services rendered. There will be no immediate affect on tariffs as the Council has already budgeted for the infrastructure and services that include the pilot projects to introduce waste minimisation services.