A socio-ecological perspective on occupational and health risks of waste pickers on landfills in South Africa
- Authors: Schenck, Catherina J. , Blaauw, Phillip F. , Viljoen, Jacoba M. M. , Swart, Elizabeth C.
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Waste pickers , Landfill , Landfill waste picker
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/296380 , uj:32290 , Citation: Schenck, C.J. et al. 2019. A socio-ecological perspective on occupational and health risks of waste pickers on landfills in South Africa. A socio-ecological perspective. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16, 2059; doi:10.3390/ijerph16112059
- Description: Abstract: Landfill and street waste pickers in South Africa are responsible for collecting substantial volumes of recyclable material, saving municipalities millions and contributing to a generally healthier and cleaner environment. Yet waste pickers continue to operate on the fringes of the economy and are exposed to many risks, particularly health risks which have a direct impact on the sustainability of their livelihoods. This article, using a mixed-methods approach, explores the health risks to which waste pickers working on nine different landfills in the country are exposed. The socio-ecological framework was used to analyse and present the results. A key finding was that waste picking, by its very nature, lends itself to innumerable health risks, but that these can be lessened through concerted and collaborative efforts on the part of landfill operators, local authorities and other stakeholders. Integrating the ‘self-employed’ waste pickers into the formal waste management system should be comprehensive in order to limit health risks. Waste pickers will never have a risk-free environment, but facilitative policies and supportive institutions can collaboratively help to mitigate these risks and create a more sustainable and dignified working environment towards sustaining their livelihoods.
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Illegal dumping challenges in West Rand District Municipalities (WRDM), South Africa
- Authors: Muzenda, E. , Belaid, M. , Nkosi, N.
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Environment , Illegal Dumping , Landfill
- Language: English
- Type: Conference proceedings
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/404129 , uj:33878 , Citation: Muzenda, E., Belaid, M. & Nkosi, N. 2019. Illegal dumping challenges in West Rand District Municipalities (WRDM), South Africa.
- Description: Abstract: Increased population and urban migration in the West Rand District Municipality (WRDM) have significantly contributed towards increased waste generation and associated challenges. Increased waste generation exerts pressure, difficulties and constraints in waste management in the district with regards to storage facilities, receptacles, removal services and transportation. The lack or absence of waste management services in addition to other factors are catalysts and drivers for illegal dumping. In WRDM, illegal dumping is a result of rising waste disposal tariffs, lack of storage facilities, disrupted waste collection schedules, unsafe and inaccessible dumbing sites particularly for in informal settlements. Illegal dumping is prevalent in low income and overpopulated areas. Ignorance, lack of minimum education and public awareness with regards to integrated waste management significantly contribute to illegal dumping which is threat to human life and the environment. Exploring energy and material recovery from waste opportunities plus recycling could contribute towards reduced illegal dumping.
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Plastic waste use in the blast furnace as a reducing agent
- Authors: Mazhandu, Z. S. M. , Muzenda, E. , Belaid, M. , Mamvura, T. A. , Nhubu, T.
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Blast Furnace , Coke , Landfill
- Language: English
- Type: Conference proceedings
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/458868 , uj:40778 , Citation: Mazhandu, Z.S.M. et al. 2020. Plastic waste use in the blast furnace as a reducing agent.
- Description: Abstract: Steel is among the most essential materials in construction, making its manufacture equally important. Steel is manufactured either via an integrated iron and steel making route characterised by the Blast Furnace (BF) and a Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF), smelting followed by a BOF or in an electric arc furnace. The objective of this paper explores the possibility of using plastic waste in Africa as an alternative reducing agent to coke in the Blast Furnace; a recycling practice that is commonly done in Japan and Europe. There are many benefits that can be accrued environmentally, operationally and economically when using waste plastics in the BF. The hydrogen content in waste plastics is almost three times more than that in pulverised coal making it a better reducing agent environmentally and economically. Plastic waste has a higher calorific value and less impurities, which results in energy savings and less dioxins and furans in the process. In addition, bearing in mind that over 130 million of tonnes of plastic waste are currently in Africa’s landfills, utilising waste plastics in the BF will result in savings in landfills airspace, prevent financial losses incurred through dumping valuable recyclables, protect the environment and the public because if spontaneous fires start in landfills then toxic fumes such as furans and dioxins, cannot be generated if the landfills are plastic free. With such evidence on hand, plastic waste use in the BF presents an untapped beneficial opportunity not only for the continent of Africa but other continents such as North America where landfilling is rife.
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Design considerations for an engineered landfill
- Authors: Manyuchi, Musaida Mercy , Mbohwa, Charles , Muzenda, Edison
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Design considerations , Landfill , Leachate control
- Language: English
- Type: Conference proceedings
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/260152 , uj:27385 , Citation: Manyuchi, M.M., Mbohwa, C. & Muzenda, E. 2017. Design considerations for an engineered landfill.
- Description: Abstract: An engineered landfill presents an opportunity for proper waste management that allows resource recovery from waste. However, for this to be achieved several technical parameters must be considered when designing a sanitary landfill. These technical parameters include proper site selection with minimal environmental and hydrological negative impacts, selection of a liner network that will not allow the leachate to infiltrate into the ground. Furthermore, there is need to have an integrated network for monitoring the movement of the waste as well as quality of the leachate. The surface drainage at a landfill site must also be well understood as well as daily covering measures to avoid pests and pathogens coming outside the designated landfill site. Although, landfills present a potential for proper municipal waste management, the human capital aspect is also critical and must be considered.
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Biochemical methane potential of OFMSW for City of Johannesburg
- Authors: Maile, Ireen , Muzenda, Edison , Mbohwa, Charles
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Anaerobic digestion , Landfill , Methane potential
- Language: English
- Type: Conference proceedings
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/216566 , uj:21522 , Citation: Maile, I., Muzenda, E. & Mbohwa, C. 2016. Biochemical methane potential of OFMSW for City of Johannesburg.
- Description: Abstract: The accumulation of Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW) in landfills not only pose threat to the environment, it may also lead to potential health hazards. Anaerobic digestion stands a very good chance to mitigate this waste accumulation in landfills and has potential to create green jobs. BMP has been widely studied in anaerobic digestion for the production of sustainable energy. Bioprocess control Automatic Methane Potential Test System (AMPTS) II machine was used to set up the assays and run the tests. OFMSW was observed to have a low pH which affects the production process and biogas yield. Buffer solutions that were used in this study were calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH). It was observed that CaCO3 not only stabilizes the pH but it also gives nutrients to the microbes and thus results in higher biogas yields. Inoculation also helped in stabilizing the process and improved the yield. The digester with CaCO3 resulted in a higher methane yield than the others. Though CaCO3 gave good results its use was discontinued as it has a negative impact on the environment. The BMP of OFMSW was found to be 200 ml CH4 / g VS. The methane content was found to be on average 58%.
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Municipal solid waste from landfills a solution to energy crisis in South Africa
- Authors: Dada, O.R. , Mbohwa, Charles
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Biogas , Landfill , Sustainable development
- Language: English
- Type: Conference proceedings
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/215015 , uj:21353 , Citation: Dada, O.R & Mbohwa, C. 2016. Municipal solid waste from landfills a solution to energy crisis in South Africa.
- Description: Abstract: There is a growing interest in the management of municipal solid waste globally, and South Africa is also not relenting in its effort to turning wastes from landfill into resourceful materials or energy because of the environmental issues and job opportunities that arises from the wastes generated from household to industrial by-products. Due to the escalating increase in the cost of dumping wastes into landfills and depletion of land spaces despite the popular global campaign of waste reduction, re-use and recycling there is still a rapid increase in the tonnage of wastes that is being produced on daily basis from all works of life which results in huge quantity of waste that is disposed to landfills. This calls for an urgent need to look into possible ways of managing wastes better in such a manner that it contributes and promotes sustainable socio - economic development of the nation. This research paper focuses on the type of waste generated from the City of Johannesburg, the potential biomethane that could be produced from the organic wastes, waste collection methods around the city before disposal on landfills within the City of Johannesburg and investigation of energy generation from waste as a better waste management technique. Robinson deep landfill which is one of the biggest landfill site within the city in terms of capacity is located in the South of Johannesburg. This landfill is a potential site for the establishment of a biogas plant where landfill wastes is expected to be used as feedstocks for the production of biogas. The biogas produced will be further upgraded to biomethane for powering the City of Johannesburg metro buses.
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Environmental contamination threat from the deposition of construction and demolition waste (CDW)
- Authors: Agbenyeku, Emmanuel Emem-Obong , Muzenda, Edison , Msibi, Innocent Mandla
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Construction and demolition waste , Effluent , Landfill
- Language: English
- Type: Conference proceedings
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/215494 , uj:21423 , Citation: Agbenyeku, E.E., Muzenda, E & Msibi, I.M. 2016. Environmental contamination threat from the deposition of construction and demolition waste (CDW).
- Description: Abstract: Growing population, industrialization and infrastructure development have resulted in enormous waste generation over the past decades. The disposal of vast amounts of waste remains a major challenge. However, in the globalized world recycling has become a main option for managing wastes while in other parts of the globe, landfilling is done due to waste handling difficulties. South Africa is one of many countries where landfilling activities is high, as roughly 75% of daily generated solid waste is disposed in landfills. This includes massive amounts of construction and demolition wastes (CDW) from reconstruction and development activities. South Africa depends on landfilling as a system of waste management which in the foreseeable future would linger till feasible recycling options are initiated. As such, the generation and seepage of leachate into soil, water reserves is probable in such dump sites due to exposure of the waste bodies to rain and run-offs. A bespoke device was used in the study to investigate the impacts of disposing CDW in open dumps paying mind to an unlined site relying on the geology of the area as worst case scenario. To generate leachate, the device was coupled with CDW in a bottom chamber and de-ionized water percolated the system from a reservoir. Arsenic, Copper and Chromium from the generated leachate effluent were analyzed by full spectral method and were compared to the South African standard of drinking water. Targeted ions were found to decrease over the testing period and it was however, clear that improper disposal of CDW could have consequential impacts on human and environmental health.
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Liner-leachate interaction curve models for clayey soils from landfills around the City of Johannesburg
- Authors: Agbenyeku, Emem-Obong Emmanuel , Muzenda, Edison , Msibi, Mandla Innocent
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Atterberg Limits , Clayey Soils , Landfill
- Language: English
- Type: Conference proceedings
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/250694 , uj:26130 , Citation: Agbenyeku, E.E., Muzenda, E. & Msibi, M.I. 2017. Liner-leachate interaction curve models for clayey soils from landfills around the City of Johannesburg. 2nd International Engineering Conference (IEC 2017) Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria.
- Description: Abstract: The study presented herein links to a regression analysis that ties into three mathematical models from the Brutsaert, Mualem and Burdine equations respectively. The paper describes a series of experimental investigations on the characteristic permeation and interaction of three clayey soil types as barrier liners with landfill leachate from around the City of Johannesburg (CoJ), South Africa. From the outcomes therefrom, sequence of logarithmic relationships were projected towards proposing rational approximations of the best curve-fitting bounds using the Grain Size Distribution (GSD) and Atterberg Limits (AL) of the respective soils as selected classification properties. The outcomes which generally revealed reasonable indicative values were expressed using the weighted Plasticity Indices (PI) of the respective soils in conformance to Sitarenios et al. The two curve-fitting parameters x and z incorporated to simulate the Liner-Leachate Interaction Curve (LLIC) of the three clayey soils sampled from respective landfills around the CoJ, South Africa yielded 118, 0.6; 1211, 0.6; 1058, 0.6 in the Brutsaert model, 0.1, 1.2; 0.0, 1.5; 0.0, 1.5 in the Mualem model and 0.1, 2.4; 0.0, 2.6; 0.0, 2.7 in the Burdine model for samples A, B and C respectively, with a general R2 value of 0.904.
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Recycling of construction and demolition waste (CDW) towards sustainable beneficial outcomes
- Authors: Agbenyeku, E. Emmanuel , Aigbavboa, Clinton
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Landfill , Recycling , Construction and Demolition Waste
- Language: English
- Type: Conference proceedings
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/72824 , uj:18333 , Citation: Agbenyeku, E.E. & Aigbavboa, C. 2015. Recycling of construction and demolition waste (CDW) towards sustainable beneficial outcomes.
- Description: Abstract: Population growth, industrialization and infrastructure development have continued to result in large amounts of construction and demolition waste (CDW) been dumped in landfills. The various enormous construction, demolition, remodeling, restructuring, renovation and repairs on domestic and industrial buildings as well as projects on infrastructure growth generate vast amounts of CDW considered low risk but of high volume. In South Africa and other African countries, CDW often ends up in landfills for lack of feasible recycling and reuse options. Considering the quantity of CDW insistently generated, it is expected that these wastes are converted to wealth if appreciated as useful resource for energy recovery, recycling or reuse. The need for recycling and reuse alternatives have increased in recent years with pressing concerns on the impacts of landfill disposal of CDW on the environment and human health. Irrespective of growing concerns, it is clear that landfilling will remain the main waste management disposal system for CDW in the foreseeable future. Hence, the study pinpoints the importance of recycling and reusing CDW towards beneficial outcomes. CDW can be profitably harnessed if properly sorted, crushed and sieved using the cheapest appropriate technology possible for concrete works. If well established, recycling and reuse alternatives can be efficiently implemented by incorporation into concrete technology with keen eyes for low cost housing schemes for social benefits.
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Impacts of landfill disposal of construction and demolition waste (CDW)
- Authors: Agbenyeku, E. Emmanuel , Aigbavboa, Clinton O. , Kukoyi, T. Oladayo
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Leachate , Landfill , Construction and demolition waste
- Language: English
- Type: Conference proceedings
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/70169 , uj:17964 , Citation: Agbenyeku, E.E., Aigbavboa, O.C. & Kukoyi, T.O. 2015. Impacts of landfill disposal of construction and demolition waste (CDW).
- Description: Abstract: Growing population, industrialization and infrastructure development have resulted in enormous waste generation over the past decades. The disposal of vast amounts of waste remains a major challenge. However, in the globalized world recycling has become a main option for managing wastes while in other parts of the globe, landfilling is resorted to because of waste handling difficulties. South Africa is one of many countries where landfilling activities is high, as roughly 75 % of daily generated solid waste is disposed in landfills. This includes massive amounts of construction and demolition wastes (CDW) from reconstruction and development activities. South Africa depends on landfilling as a system of waste management which in the foreseeable future would linger on till feasible recycling options are initiated. Consequentially, the generation and seepage of leachate into soil, ground and surface water reserves is probable in such dump sites due to exposure of the waste bodies to rain and run-off water. A bespoke device was used in the study to investigate the impacts of disposing CDW in open dumps with mind for an unlined site relying on the geology of the area as worst case scenario. To generate leachate, the device was coupled with CDW in a bottom chamber and de-ionized water seeped through from a reservoir. Arsenic, Copper and Chromium from the generated leachate were analyzed by full spectral method on the effluent and were compared to South African standard of drinking water. Although, concentration levels of the targeted ions decreased through the test, it was clear that if CDW is not properly disposed, could contribute to consequential impacts on human and environmental health over time. Keywords Leachate, Landfill, Construction and Demolition Waste, Bespoke device.
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