Abstract
The energy crisis, global warming and a cleaner
environment are arguably amongst the most pressing issues at
present facing modern society. Before devising a suitable strategy to
convert a proportion of the waste into useful product, categorization
of waste types is of great significance to any more detailed study.
The population of the world continues to grow, as does the average
standard of living, increasing demand for food, water and energy
which places increasing pressure on the environment. This paper
attempts to parameterize waste generation within a South African
context in order provide a theoretical foundation for such work to
take place. Organic materials, which includes wood, leaves, grass,
food, paper, plastic, cotton, synthetic fabrics, sewage sludge, animal
remains, bacteria, any carbohydrates or hydrocarbons. These are all
materials sent to landfills (with the exception of metal, ceramics and
glass). The Gauteng province was chosen for this preliminary study
as it constituted 42% of SA’s waste in 2010 making it by far the
country’s biggest waste generator. The types of waste that were
particularly targeted in lieu of the downstream research endeavoured
were medical waste, plastics, tyres and sewage sludge.