Eden pilots household composting project
By keeping organic waste away from landfill sites, the production of detrimental landfill gasses will be eliminated.
The result of waste characterisation studies compiled of waste being transported from households and businesses in the Eden District Municipal areas has clearly shown that huge quantities of organic waste are being disposed of at landfill sites in the district.
Most of the landfill sites in the district are already closed or nearing their maximum capacity.
As a result, the municipalities need to implement drastic waste minimisation initiatives to reduce waste dropped off at landfill sites to lengthen the life expectancy of the site and to reduce transport costs from the originators of the waste to landfill.
Eden District Municipality’s (Eden DM) Waste Management Section, in collaboration with the waste management officers of the various local municipalities within its jurisdiction, identified a practical solution to minimise organic waste going from households to landfill sites.
Home composting project
Considering that 30% of the normal household black bag waste contains organic waste originating from the garden and kitchen, the decision was taken to implement the household composting pilot project in the different municipal areas. Through this project, garden and kitchen waste will be recycled into compost, using different recycling methods, such as bin -and worm composting. The compost worm castings and worm tea are then used as fertiliser in-house and for vegetable gardens.
On Monday, 5 February, residents of the Gouritzmond community attended the launch and training session of the first Home Composting Pilot Project.
The Eden DM waste manager, Morton Hubbe, gave a presentation on the methods, techniques, benefits and possible expectations of the project. Hubbe said a one-on-one follow-up training session would be held with each of the 30 participating households, and that all participants would receive a composting bin and worm farm.
In addition, the Eden District and Hessequa municipal waste management officers will receive monthly updates from the residents, which will enable them to monitor the progress of the project and capture data.
The duration of the pilot project will be for one year from the date of implementation, and it is envisaged the project outcome will display to municipal councils that the exact quantities of organic waste can be diverted from landfills with the buy-in of normal households. Also, it will motivate councils to extend the programme to the rest of their municipal area.
It is anticipated the next pilot project will be implemented in the Mossel Bay Municipal area during March.
Most of the landfill sites in the district are already closed or nearing their maximum capacity.