City highlights organic waste diversion efforts on Zero Emissions Day
23 September 2025
As the world celebrated international Zero Emissions Day at the weekend, the City of Cape Town’s Urban Waste Management Directorate marks the strides made to curb carbon emissions and human-induced climate change through its organic waste diversion pilot projects.
‘While impressive strides have been made towards diversion of organic waste through initiatives such as garden greens chipping at drop-off sites, there is still much work to do to reduce the emissions that occur when organic waste is disposed at landfills in Cape Town. When we work together we can achieve great things and every resident can also play a role in reducing Cape Town’s carbon footprint.
‘Simple actions like home composting, separating organic waste or supporting community composting initiatives may seem small, but collectively they have a real impact. At the same time, the City is strategising to make organic waste diversion easier, more efficient and more sustainable for everyone,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Waste Management, Alderman Grant Twigg.
What are carbon emissions?
When organic waste breaks down in an environment where there is no oxygen, such as a landfill, a much more potent greenhouse gas is produced than if the waste decomposed in an environment with oxygen, such as in a compost heap.
Urban Waste Management (UWM) initiatives
UWM has been actively exploring solutions for increased organic waste diversion in Cape Town in recent years. These efforts included the implementation of pilot organic waste collection systems in Langa and Khayelitsha, where residents are provided with buckets for organic waste such as food scraps. These buckets are collected on a weekly basis and the waste is turned into compost. To date, these two trial areas have diverted about 234 000kg of organic waste from landfill.
In addition, the City is supporting efforts to divert organic waste in the Bellville area through funding of the Greater Tygerberg Partnership and their Better.Bellville.Together initiative. This project provides organics bins for traders and commuters at the Bellville Public Transport Interchange to dispose of their unwanted produce and other organic scraps, as well as providing an organic waste collection service to local businesses. The project has also partnered with local law enforcement to divert manure from horses, and the Voortrekker Road City Improvement District to divert garden waste from their landscaping programmes. In total over 200 000kg has been diverted through this initiative this year alone.
Both projects are supported by the City’s Bellville Compost Plant. Food scraps or unwanted produce collected in projects described above are sent to this facility to be turned into nutrient-rich compost. Residents can purchase compost from the Bellville facility, helping to close the loop on organic waste management and support sustainable gardening practices. The City’s intention is to increase production at this facility over time through additional partnerships with businesses and civic institutions.
The City is considering implementing similar programmes, partnerships, technologies or scaling up operations in other parts of the city, but solutions to cost and constraints must be considered.
Organic waste implementation plan
An organic waste implementation plan for the City is currently in development and is likely focus on strategic legislative/policy or tariff interventions that can create a more enabling environment for the private organic waste processing industry to grow and thrive, as well as identifying gaps the private sector is not able to fill to be addressed by the City.
In the meantime the City would like to encourage residents to do what they can to make a difference. Home composting is an easy and affordable way for residents to reduce their carbon footprint, and the City is supporting this practice with rollout of free home composting containers. The rollout schedule is uploaded on the City’s website and residents are encouraged to take advantage.
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Published by:
Media Office, City of Cape Town
