Come clean about source of waste

WITH REFERENCE TO “Wellington waste project flawed, illegal” (Weekend Argus, July 29).

The waste incinerator requires a minimum of 500 tons/day to be sustainable. The memorandum of agreement (May 30, 2012) between the municipality and Interwaste does not identify the source from where the waste will be imported. The MSA s78 (3)/PPP Feasibility Report (July 8, 2013) states: “Interwaste is well aware that it must be prepared to supply all the waste required. This is a risk to which Interwaste committed itself ”.

Since no agreement exists between Interwaste, Stellenbosch and the City of Cape Town municipalities for supplying this additional waste, one of the options to sustain the waste incinerator is for Interwaste to import waste from another country.

An IMIESA magazine article dated December 7, 2016, states that the UK ships about three million tons of waste overseas a year for use as fuel. Mention is also made that it is more economical and environmentally friendly to dispose of waste generated in the UK in South Africa.

Mike Nicholls, director of technical services at Interwaste was quoted in the Daily Maverick (February 18, 2016) saying:

Although there is currently only one RDF plant in operation in South Africa, there are plans under way to expand to four.

The first step in this direction has been to secure a contract with the Drakenstein Municipality, where the relatively small amount of waste generated in this area, when recycled, can nonetheless supply electrical energy to the municipality.

The Wellington community feels the Drakenstein Municipality needs to come clean about where the waste will come from to sustain the proposed incinerator.

If Wellington does not generate enough waste, is the intention to import the waste? Importing waste would have financial, health, environmental and socio-economic consequences for Wellington.