Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning:
(1) Whether there are internationally standardised criteria to assess the standards of landfill sites and their management; if so, to what extent are these criteria used in South Africa and the Western Cape for assessments;
(2) how often are approved landfill sites in the Western Cape officially visited and evaluated by independent persons or bodies;
(3) in what respect do the criteria used in Afriforum’s 2022 annual report on municipal landfill sites (a) match or (b) differ from the criteria used by official evaluations of waste sites;
(4) how can the quality of Afriforum’s report on the standards of landfill sites can be improved?
1. Most countries perform landfill audits as a check against compliance with their permit/ license conditions, and are generally concentrated on compliance with limits, operations, monitoring and reporting and general conditions. Developed countries focus more on the limitations and monitoring and reporting aspects, whereas developing countries have a greater focus on operations and general conditions. South Africa, including the Western Cape is a hybrid between developed and developing countries, and the major difference between the first world countries and ourselves are the percentage of waste landfilled. South Africa has a much larger percentage of waste landfilled, as there are very little large-scale alternatives in place. The second edition of the Minimum Requirements for Waste Disposal by Landfill (1998) and the National Norms and Standards for Waste Disposal to Landfill, published in government notice no. R636 on 23 August 2013 are considered when compliance of each condition of a waste management license is audited locally.
2. External audits need to be performed at least annually at most landfill facilities, and must be undertaken by an independent, qualified and experienced landfill auditor. This Department also conducts departmental audits at selected facilities throughout the Western Cape, and currently has 48 audits planned for the 2022/23 financial year.
3. The Western Cape has developed a weighted-methodology for the auditing of landfill sites, unlike the rest of the country, which uses an average system for its criteria. The former places more emphasis on areas where the impact on the environment is more severe, whereas the latter checks for all criteria whether it is in place or not, carrying equal weighting. Afriforum used to apply the average rating system but has now adopted a weighted methodology similar to that applied in the Western Cape. The criteria used by this Department is more detailed, as it audits against the license/permit conditions, as well as general conditions. Afriforum is more focused on the general conditions.
4. Afriforum’s quality has vastly improved compared to previous years’ audits undertaken, especially by also adopting a weight-based approach. Whereas their focus is more on general conditions of operations, it should also focus on the license conditions and technical aspects of waste management. Afriforum has also not taken into account the different methodologies used in the Western Cape (more stringent) compared to the rest of the country, and it is therefore difficult to make direct comparisons across all provinces.
