Yesterday was the start of a two-day BCM Waste Indaba held at the East London ICC on the beachfront.
Attendees included government officials, businesses already specialising in environmentally friendly trade, businesses looking to expand into the field and civic organisations.
Executive mayor Xola Pakati said: “This is an important event for our city because waste management is one of our main mandates as a local government institution. The importance of this event is also owed to the fact that we know adequate waste management is linked to increased economic fortunes for the city and its people.
“Even though I will not be presenting the waste management status quo for our city, it is crucial that I indicate that we are experiencing several challenges in this front and this is the reason we have decided to convene this indaba.
“Apart from the fact that our city has seen a proliferation of illegal dumps, we have also faced challenges with regard to compliance with some of the provisions of the National Environmental Management Waste Act.
“The purpose of this gathering is therefore to get stakeholders in the sector to assist us in how we can better do our job and how we can have mutually beneficial partnerships, all with the intention of having a cleaner city.
“This is therefore a meeting of minds, even on ways of managing solid waste in an environmentally sustainable manner.”
The Black Management Forum, Border-Kei Chamber of Businesses and the South African Council of Churches pledged to support BCM in these efforts.
Helen Neale-May, portfolio head of public services, said the aim of the indaba was to form partnerships between BCM and other stakeholders to effectively tackle waste in a sustainable manner, all the while protecting the environment, reducing waste, harnessing green energy and growing the waste economy.
“We must make an admission that as it stands our municipality is mainly using landfilling as a primary form of solid waste disposal. We are disposing of about 75% of our waste as a metro in the Roundhill regional landfill site and the rest at the King William’s Town landfill site.”
Pakati said: “It should, however, be acknowledged that landfilling is not a sustainable form of waste management in the long run. We therefore believe that our integrated waste management plan and our long-term waste management strategy should place the development of alternative waste management options as a priority, more particularly recycling and reuse.”
Pakati acknowledged that in the past the municipality had faced many challenges with its landfills.
At around midday the exhibition floor opened up with a wide variety of stands offering information on “green jobs”, organic products like fertiliser, skin care and shampoo, a company building a recycling factory in the IDZ, waste management options and natural fuels like “biomass pellets”, which are made from compressed wood waste and provide an alternative to coal.
Today brings with it more talks as well as four commissions on the legislative framework, enterprise development, alternative treatment technologies and waste minimisation.