Weighbridge to improve landfill
2010-08-12
THE weighbridge installation that was completed recently at the landfill site in Wellington and officially opened last week, will assist Drakenstein Municipality to quantify all waste to the landfill site and will result in proper projections to calculated with greater accuracy the lifespan of this site. There are also plans to extend the berms of this landfill by an additional ten metres in order to gain some airspace whilst the investigation of a new site is explored. This site is an integral facility for solid waste disposal and serves the whole Drakenstein Municipal area, a spokesperson of the municipality said. “It is therefore of utmost importance that proper management resources be put in place in order to ensure the optimal use of the facility and to extend its lifespan,” Leon Coetzee, director of Infrastructure and Planning of the Drakenstein Municipality, said. “This facility is under tremendous strain as about 300 tons of waste is being received on a daily basis. This figure is an estimate and also includes recycled waste, builders’ rubble, e-waste, green waste and organic waste, which forms part of the waste stream. “Apart from the weighbridge, other initiatives at the landfill site have been embarked on including the recycling of paper, oil, builders’ rubble and green waste in order to keep it out of the waste stream to eventually save on precious airspace. “These initiatives form part of the Drakenstein Municipality’s Integrated Waste Management Plan and will be rolled out to other Solid Waste Drop-off facilities in Hermon, Gouda and Saron, with the main focus on source recycling,” he said. “Further waste handling initiatives such as Waste to Energy, organic composting and an Eco Park, will also be explored in future,” he added. “The opening of the weighbridge is an important milestone for the accurate determination of the waste received and is also a statutory requirement as from July 2010 in terms of submitting accurate information to the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning. “The unit will be an important tool to determine and measure all types of waste received and to more accurately calculate the available air space,” he said. The total cost of the unit was R700 000 and is capable of measuring loads of up to 80 tonnes. Coetzee also asked the community of Drakenstein to get involved in awareness campaigns like the Wellington “Anti-Rommel Aksie” and to report illegal dumping as this is costing the Municipality a staggering R2,6 million per annum. Citizens who make use of this site will pay a tariff depending on the mass and nature of the waste. The new tariffs were implimented on 1 July. The tariff for normal homehold waste is R120 per ton if a person delivers more than five loads per month and if the loads exceed a ton. Businesses as well as mixed loads (garden waste and building waste) have to pay R12 per 100kg. For perishable goods the tariff is R45 per 100 kg. There is no fee for building waste that can be crushed.
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