Botswana’s Landfill woes
Spontaneous landfill fires that range from minor surface fires to huge blazes can release harmful emissions that could have a longlasting impact on the health of humans, plant life, as well as the environment.
Landfill fires are a common occurrence. They affect the Pilane landfill, which falls under the Kgatleng District Council, Gamodubu landfill under the Kweneng District Council, as well as the southeast District Council.
The latter was the latest to issue a public caution to members of the public about a fire that broke out at the landfill.
The fire broke out around 5 am last Friday, where security personnel reported hearing an explosion.
At the Pilane landfill along the A1 Road, just this year alone, the Kgatleng District has recorded two fire outbreaks in May and in August, and by Wednesday this week, the landfill was still on fire.
Since it started operating in October 2009, the Gamodubu Regional Landfill, located 28km from Molepolole and 31km from Gaborone along the A12 Road, has experienced several fire outbreaks dating back to the year 2013, 2015, 2017 with the last in 2018.
According to Chief Public Health Officer at the Kweneng District Council, Neo Kachana, while investigations were done by relevant authorities into the cause of the fires, nothing was ever conclusive.
“It is however suspicious that it could be due to poor segregation of waste by the public”, she said, adding that some waste that is not accepted from households might be the cause of the fires.
She said this is because they have discovered that some household waste has unacceptable waste mixed with general waste at the cells.
The Gamodubu Regional Landfill services the whole of Kweneng District, Gaborone City, part of southeast District, part of Kgatleng District, and other neighbouring districts that might need assistance.
“In the event of fire outbreaks, an arrangement is normally made with the neighbouring landfill, the South East District Council landfill as well as the Kgatleng District Council waste facility to assist clients while the fire is being extinguished”, Kachana explained.
The Kweneng District has several measures in place to prevent landfill fires. These include community mobilisation and outreaches that teach the community acceptable and nonacceptable waste at Gamodumbu land
fill through kgotla meetings, advertisements, and school health programmes.
In addition, continuous fire awareness and safety training is given to employees.
Kachana said the Council has installed elevated tanks with water to feed fire trucks in an event of an outbreak.
They have also established a trained fire safety team and first aid team at the landfill.
“Continuous clearing of fire- breaks around the landfill fence and between the waste cells is done”, said Kachana, adding that the Council has surveyed water within the landfill and planning on drilling a borehole that will be used to supply water to the water hydrants that will be installed around the waste cells.
South East District spokesperson, Thapelo Timuno, on the other hand, said the suspected causes of the current fires at their landfill are the generation of landfill gases as waste decomposes.
Like Kachana, he also attributes lack of waste separation at source resulting in the landfill receiving flammable waste, which is likely to self- ignite therefore causing landfill fires.
The South East Council has also put in place measures that could go a long way in preventing future fires. They include daily waste compaction and covering with soil material.
“Public education is also done to sensitise members of the community about the importance of separating waste at source and not to store flammable waste in refuse receptacles”, he said.
At the Pilane landfill that services Mochudi, Pilane, Morwa, Bokaa, Rasesa, and Malotwane, as well as some Phakalane and Gaborone North residents, investigations into the landfill fires have not yielded much.
“However, we cannot rule out human actions as there are people scavenging useful waste materials at the landfill on a daily basis”, Senior Public Relations Officer at the Kgatleng District Council, Isaiah Morewagae said.
Morewagae explained that to prevent the fires, there is the provision of security personnel to monitor the area within the facility. In the event of a fire, Kgatleng District redirects waste to disposal sites at Dikwididi and Mathubudukwane.
The current size of the Pilane landfill, according to Morewagae, is 2.56 hectares that can accommodate 112 000 cubic meters of waste in two layers of two meters’ depth at the compacted density of 750kg per cubic meter.
The landfill, which was constructed and commissioned in 1995, is an engineered landfill categorised as General Waste – Small Size and landfill size is 2.56 hectares with a design life span of 15 years.
Gamodubu, which is the largest landfill in the country, is 80 hectares of land, 30 of which are developed and currently being used and anticipated to continue to be used for 20 years, that is from 2009, following the closure of the Gaborone City Council.
“The landfill was designed to receive 65 000 tonnes of waste in a year. On average, the landfill receives 264.08 tonnes ( as per July 2021) of waste on a daily basis and 7,711.46 tonnes ( as per 2021 statistics) of waste on monthly basis”, Kachana said.
The South East District Council landfill capacity is approximately 36 hectares and its lifespan is predicted to be 25 years, according to Timuno. It was commissioned in 2005 and it is expected to be decommissioned in 2030.
“However, robust recycling initiatives will prolong its lifespan because the only minimal unrecyclable waste will be disposed of ”, Timuno said.
On average, 33 994 tonnes of waste is disposed of annually, 2 833 tonnes monthly, and 118 tonnes disposed of daily.
Timuno said the South East District Council encounters challenges that include limited plant equipment to daily cover compacted waste with soil, budget constraints, and un- separated waste at source resulting in burying useful resources.
According to Timuno, the Council has three refuse compactors that service Mogobane, Otse, Lobatse farms, and Pioneer Border Post.
The Council has outsourced litter picking, refuse collection, and disposal to five private companies in South East South Sub District Council covering Ramotswa, Taung, Kgale/ Notwane, and Mmokolodi/ Sentlhane.
In Tloweng Sub District Council, four private companies are servicing the whole village.
“The Council’s responsibility is to monitor these companies to ensure that they perform to the agreed performance standards”, Timuno said. To run the landfill, the South East Council spends just over P300 000 per month.
Challenges facing the Gamodubu landfill include high volumes of customers on daily basis, making it the busiest landfill in Botswana, leading to frequent breakdown of equipment as they are often overworked to meet the demand.
In addition, there is no readily available cover material onsite hence it is imported from outside the landfill leading to the poor covering of the waste cells.
Currently, the Pilane landfill is not operating to an acceptable standard due to financial constraints to purchase new machinery.
“The current machinery is old and aging. As such the landfill has turned into a dumping site. Waste coming from Gaborone makes the situation even worse as our landfill has long exceeded its design lifespan. We also experience an influx of scavengers that are impossible to control”, Morewagae noted.
Kgatleng District Council has three refuse compactor trucks and uses them for servicing refuse cages in institutions and for full refuse bags along the road.
“However, we have engaged 31 private contractors to collect domestic waste from residential areas”, Morewagae said.
Kweneng District Council has five refuse trucks covering Mogoditshane/ Thamaga Sub District Council, four refuse trucks covering Molepolole/ Lentsweletau Sub District Council, and two refuse trucks in Letlhakeng Sub District Council.
In total, the district has 11 refuse trucks. It is estimated that the monthly running cost of the landfill stands at P500, 000. This includes running expenses and personnel emolument for the employees.
According to Kachana, the district has engaged 74 private contractors for waste collection in the district. These involve small, medium, and large waste collection contractors.
All three Councils have big dreams for the landfills. The Kweneng District Council desires to partner with private companies in issues of recycling and bringing in new technologies to better run the landfill.
On the other hand, the South East District wishes to identify potential investors who will undertake a wasteto- energy project or Material Recovery Facility ( MRF) and or any project that will be viable to the investors.
The Kgatleng District Council would like to also partner with private companies in recycling and bringing in new technologies to better run the landfill.