Unisa, Mpumalanga municipality partner on waste management solutions
The University of South Africa (Unisa) has partnered with the Bushbuckridge local municipality, in Mpumalanga, to find ways of improving waste management in the region.
The municipality’s waste management manager, Levy Mokoena, says the municipality will use Unisa’s academic research on indigenous knowledge systems and waste management to obtain affordable and manageable solutions to deal with its waste.
This follows after the municipality assessed the status of waste management in its communities.
“It is the responsibility of the municipality to address issues of waste management within our society. As a municipality, we look after different sectors – townships, villages and business areas – but unfortunately as a rural municipality we do not generate enough revenue, which limits our waste management hand to reach some parts of our jurisdiction,” says Mokoena.
The municipality is, therefore, encouraging citizens to recycle their waste, where possible. The partnership with Unisa is expected to help the municipality improve its recycling rates.
“The mission for the municipality and Unisa is to support existing recyclers by making them realise the potential of a clean, healthy environment and job creation [opportunities],” says Mokoena.
Unisa Associate Professor in environmental issues Fani Machete, meanwhile, says it is important to understand people's cultures and why they think the way they do before appropriate waste management strategies can be put in place in a particular region.
Unisa is encouraging the government to buy materials from recyclers, as is done in the US and Europe, as well as encouraging people to recycle various materials, especially plastic, which is often burned, creating a significant health hazard.
Machete says recycling can be a good source of income for some, but stresses that recycling should be formalised.
"Many recyclers have bailed out because of the little money they are receiving and not knowing the great potential financial growth that lies with recycling."
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation