Don’t waste time - comment on draft budget for a cleaner Cape Town

14 April 2025

In line with strategic imperatives, the City’s Urban Waste Management Directorate’s proposed budget priorities for the 2025/26 financial year (FY) include improving the reliability of the refuse collection and cleansing service and bettering waste minimisation capacity.

Guided by the recently approved Waste Strategy, and outlined in its draft budget, the City is making major investments in enhanced waste management services over the next three years including:
 

• R1,1 billion over three years to purchase refuse removal vehicles and plant to ensure a reliable service, including refuse trucks, crane trucks, refuse collectors, tipper trucks, street sweepers, flatbed trucks, landfill compactors, bulldozers, front-end loaders, water tankers, and more;
• R88 million annually for the new Main Arterial and CBD Cleaning initiative for cleaner highways and business districts;
• R163 million for Waste-to-Energy capital infrastructure initiatives;
• Upgrades to depots, waste drop-off facilities, and Refuse Transfer Stations.

In 2025/26 alone, capital expenditure for the directorate is proposed to be R439 million. 

Planned spending includes R336 million for upgrading plant/replacing vehicles, R11 million for infrastructure to prevent landfill gas and reduce climate change, R2,5 million for replacement of shipping containers to contain waste in informal settlements, and approximately R50 million for facility upgrades to ensure compliance with operational health and safety legislation and to reduce the potential for service disruptions.
 
Other major, multi-year projects that are set to get off the ground in 2025/26, include:

• R54 million for the construction of a workshop at the Vissershok landfill site to improve vehicle repair turnaround times and increase reliability of refuse collection
• R65 million to upgrade the Killarney Drop-off site to increase diversion of waste from landfill
• R328 million for the construction of a Material Recovery facility and Athlone Refuse Transfer Station

Wheel of value:

‘The City is on a mission to improve waste services, from refuse collection to cleansing, all aimed at boosting service delivery for the public so we all can enjoy a cleaner Cape Town while protecting our environment.
 
‘Council recently approved Cape Town’s first Waste Strategy. This proactive game plan outlines the City’s approach over the next 10 years to manage waste more effectively and sustainably, in collaboration with all stakeholders, to help create a cleaner Cape Town for all. Commenting on the draft budget is an opportunity to have your say on the City’s proposed plans to invest in Cape Town’s waste services. We look forward to hearing from you,’ said Alderman Grant Twigg, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Waste Management. 
 
To comment on the budget before 2 May, or to view the City’s household bill calculator, visit www.capetown.gov.za. On the landing page you can click on our budget trending box for all the information you need.

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office