Food waste diverted from landfills trial
THE City is appealing to the public to take part in its organic food waste project, aimed at diverting food waste from landfills.
The pilot project will be trialled, to assess its efficacy and potential for further roll-out.
The national and provincial governments are setting a provincial target of 50% diversion of organic waste from landfill by 2022, and 100% diversion by 2027.
“In order to meet these targets, the City is already diverting a significant proportion of organic waste from landfill, through, for example, the garden waste chipping programme at City drop-offs as well as the home composting container programme, which has rolled out home composters to over 22 000 households already,” said Mayco member for Water and Waste, Xanthea Limberg.
“The City continues to investigate various methods for residents to divert their own food waste. This will help the City understand the most convenient, efficient and cost-effective service to offer residents in future, to ensure food waste is diverted from landfill,” she said.
The food waste diversion project will operate from four City drop-off sites in Belhar, Killarney, Hout Bay, and Woodstock and with four pop-up sites in the Cape Town CBD, Claremont CBD, Durbanville and Somerset West districts.
Participants will be issued a 5-litre bucket with information leaflet, to fill with organic food waste, temporarily storing it in the fridge or freezer.
When the buckets are filled, the waste can be taken to their designated site where the bucket was received.
The bucket will then be decanted, cleaned and reissued to the individual. The project commenced on February 15 and will run until June 30, with 200 participants per site.
Woodstock drop-off facility foreman Joseph Meyer said pamphlets are handed to visitors informing them of the innovative project.
For more information on the times for drop-off and exact location, contact re.cycling@capetown.gov.za.