City’s first Waste Expo a hub of innovative ideas and opportunities for sustainable waste management
19 May 2023
Today, Thursday, 18 May, marks the start of the City’s
first Urban Waste Management (UWM) Innovation Expo, a two-day exhibition to
showcase some of the most innovative and sustainable waste management solutions
existing today. This follows the City of Cape Town’s Request for Information
(RFI) on any products and technologies that could improve the City's waste
management operations and services.
FAST FACTS ON OUR WASTE: - The refuse collections service performs 875 000 wheelie bin lifts per week
- 227 320 informal households receive a weekly door-to-door service
- The City processes between 650 tons and 710 tons of recycling per month at drop-off facilities
- Landfills serving the City of Cape Town are expected to reach capacity around 2040. The City is planning for more sophisticated and eco-friendly solutions to be in place by this time.
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The UWM Directorate is committed to finding innovative and sustainable ways to minimise the effects of waste on human and environmental health, and save landfill airspace.
In keeping with this, the City called for businesses and residents to submit ideas and proposals for the use of innovative technologies in waste management, that could benefit Cape Town's residents and the environment, for consideration by the City.
The most promising ideas will be showcased at the expo. Insights from the event will be used in conceptualisation of future alternative waste management solutions in Cape Town.
Guest speakers for the first day included the City's Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, the Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Waste Management, Alderman Grant Twigg, and Executive Director of Urban Waste Management, Dr Luzuko Mdunyelwa.
Over the two days, each exhibitor will have the opportunity to present their ideas as well as showcasing their products and services. Presentations will take place over several sessions, which cover:
- Waste-to-energy,
- Leachate treatment (removal of solids),
- Behavioural change,
- Waste diversion and recycling, and
- Waste collection.
'We are very excited to be hosting the City's first Waste Expo. This platform brings together the City and the private sector to put waste in the spotlight.
'Waste is an important topic to explore because with modern life the volume of waste we all generate is increasing. Waste is not going away so what we are doing as a City is to provide this opportunity to share ideas so we can see how we can better manage the waste, and use it to create opportunities. This is in addition to existing City initiatives such as our Waste-to-Energy project, composting projects and the waste recyclers' map.
'We are hoping this engagement over the next two days will be the first of many as we work together with the private sector and society as a whole to reduce waste in Cape Town that ends up at landfills. Together we can make Cape Town cleaner and a healthier place to live,' said Alderman Twigg.
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Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
