Abstract
With rapid economic growth and urbanization, solid waste generation and management is
becoming a major social and environmental issue in Johannesburg. This rapid growth
coupled with new consumption patterns has resulted in the over utilisation of natural
resources. Consequently, there is more land being used for waste disposal and both
pollution and environmental degradation are on the rise. These by-products of economic
growth are not compatible with the principles of waste minimisation, which sees reuse
and recycling as means for sustainable development.
The concept of sustainable development is defined as “the development that meets the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet
their own needs” (Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development Report,
2002). Sustainable waste management advocates for the integration of environmental
matters with economic and social issues. It is within this sustainable environmental
management context that the research work is undertaken to fulfil the principles of
sustainable waste management practices.
Recycling traditionally involves the recovery of plastics, glass, paper, cardboard, metal
and rubber from the waste stream. The recovery of these materials will achieve
significant volume reduction, on average according to Lombard (1990) between 30-40
per cent of domestic refuse. But, this should be economically viable and produce
marketable goods. This option provides opportunities for salvagers to reclaim recyclable
materials to sell and generate an income.
Salvaging on landfill sites is strongly discouraged by the Minimum Requirements for
Waste Disposal by Landfill (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, 1998) and by the
National Waste Management Strategy (Department of Environmental Affairs and
Tourism, 1998) as it interferes with the site operations and places salvagers at a high
health and safety risk. The main aim of this mini dissertation is to determine whether or
not recovery of recyclable material by salvagers contributes to the reduction of waste
quantities to be handled by the landfill sites.
The methodology used to obtain data for this research was the questionnaire interview
approach where there was an interviewer who asked predefined questions and an
interviewee who responded and answered questions as posed. In the discussion of both
qualitative and quantitative data analysis, the research followed Dey’s (1993) approach,
which seeks to combine different approaches such as the descriptive, classification and
connection methodologies to gain a deeper understanding of qualitative data.
The research findings are that white paper, clear plastic, newspaper, scrap metal,
cardboard boxes and common paper are some of the waste components that are being
recovered from landfill sites. But some recyclables are more sought after commodities
than the others due to their monetary value and availability, white paper being the most
popular and common paper the least popular. The results also illustrate that the recovery
percentage does not contribute to a significant reduction in quantities of waste to be
disposed at a landfill site, but it does benefits financially the salvagers through the resale
of the recovered recyclable commodities.
Dr. L.G.C. Scheepers