The City of Cape Town plans to spend R415 million to further develop its infrastructure for solid waste management in the coming financial year.

Part of the plan is to replace 25 vehicles, which includes 20 compactor trucks, in its refuse removal fleet at a cost of R40 million.

“These trucks have a limited life span as the wear and tear is much higher due to the continuous stop and start during the waste collection process, as well as Cape Town’s hilly topography,” says Alderman Clive Justus, Mayoral Committee Member for Utility Services.

The average age of the City’s compactor fleet is nine years. The City has 165 compactor vehicles, servicing the metropole from Atlantis on the West Coast to Gordon’s Bay in the east and down to Simon’s Town in the south. Some disposal equipment is 16 years and older, whilst the municipality’s vehicle replacement plan provides for replenishment every seven years.

“Cape Town’s 3,2 million residents currently generate a massive 4 600 tons of rubbish per day. With the current growth in waste generation, this will translate into a mountain of 1.8 million tons of rubbish in the next year; all to be collected, transported, minimised and disposed of over an area covering 2 487 square kilometres.

“One way of extending the life span of these specialised vehicles is to shorten the distances to disposal sites. The City is therefore building two integrated waste transfer stations in Kraaifontein and Bellville which will reduce the distance between collection and disposal. On completion, these stations will be able to process 3 840 tons of refuse per day,” says Ald Justus.

The City also employs 21 community-based contractors to provide an integrated refuse collection and cleaning service in all informal areas. A dedicated contract monitoring unit has been established to oversee these contractors. Additionally, the City has outsourced almost 25% of formal residential areas to private contractors, where a separate collection of recyclables (Think Twice project) is provided additional to the refuse collection service.

“The largest chunk of the Solid Waste capital budget is earmarked for the development of landfill infrastructure and integrated transfer stations. The current sites at Vissershok, Bellville South and Coastal Park are almost filled to capacity. But the City is pro-actively addressing this challenge by implementing the Integrated Waste Management Strategy and by producing an Integrated Waste Management By-law,” says Ald Justus.