United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

Waste management is one of the greatest environmental, social and economic issues of concern to the global community, and more specifically to local municipalities in South Africa that are responsible for this service. Closely associated with this issue is the need to educate people about conservation and appropriate waste management.

In the Mariannhill Landfill Conservancy project (MLC) the land is used for conservation and waste management.

The project is innovative in landfill site management, rehabilitation, environmental education and conservation. MLC is an active and operating landfill site but is also registered as a Conservancy. In addition to the waste management service that this site provides, an environmental outdoor classroom has been created where aspects relating to waste management, biodiversity and conservation is taught and observed. The site also forms a natural green corridor link in the broader metropolitan open space system, which allows for the active movement of fauna and flora.

This method of waste disposal offers an alternative and sustainable land-use option for waste-filled land, during and after use; and represents a vast improvement to the many disused landfill sites around the country, that have become pockets of polluted wasteland, more often than not illegally occupied by the destitute and homeless.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The MLC was driven by the Durban Solid Waste (DSW) a branch of the e’Thekwini Municipality and was established in 1997, when the municipality conducted an Environmental Impact Assessment for their new proposed landfill, in the Mariannhill area. In the process of consulting various interested and affected parties DSW came up with a proposal to have the site registered as a National Conservancy. In order to achieve this, they had to meet the requirements of the Ezemvelo Kwa-Zulu Natal Wildlife who was responsible to ensure that legal requirements were met. For the site to be declared a conservancy, it had to be registered, have a Constitution, an Environmental Management Plan, and Site Layout Plan and have an Environmental Monitoring Committee. MLC met these requirements and the Landfill was registered as the first landfill conservancy in Africa. Several achievements made this possible. Using naturalistic engineering principles soil was removed from the landfill footprint development area, was stored and replaced back on site once the area was filled with waste. This ensured that the specific soil profile for revegetation and capping remained on site. Vegetation was removed from the fill area and taken to a large holding nursery that was located on site. These rescued plants have saved the municipality more than R2 million in revegetation costs and plants and seeds have been used to rehabilitate other sites in the e’Thekwini Municipal Area (EMA). Leachate, which was produced as a result of rainwater passing through waste was treated on-site via a biological treatment plant and a secondary ‘polishing treatment’ by reedbeds. This on-site treatment of leachate to a re-usable standard, lessens the load on the municipal sewer and supplies water on site for dust control and irrigation of vegetated areas, thereby decreasing the load on municipal drinking supply. Landfill gas that was produced as a result of the bio-decomposition of waste, creates an opportunity for financially viable landfill-to-gas-to-electricity generation. This complies with the Kyoto Protocol as South Africa is a signatory. A Boma has been constructed on-site and provides visitors with a birds-eye view of the conservancy. The Boma is a fully equipped amphitheatre and enables the staff to conduct weekly environmental educational lectures to between 60 and 120 school children. Learners learn about waste management, recycling, biodiversity and conservation. Lectures are interactive and are conducted via site tours. Numerous university and technikon students have used the site for assignment purposes. In complete contrast to traditional landfill sites, the Boma is also the venue of choice for council officials when they have meetings and social gatherings.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
In December 1995, the Durban Metro, a forerunner to the e’Thekwini Municipality took over the function of landfilling. At that time the now defunct Pinetown Town Council had commenced a process to locate and construct a new landfill. The Mariannhill landfill was identified as a possible site and was the first landfill to have gone through a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). As is often the case in these types of situations a lot of negative energy was directed at the sighting of the landfill, as landfills have negative connotations, due to the smells and pollution that emanate from them. Initially, the Council, environmental Non Governmental Organisations and the community were in conflict about the location of the landfill. Via public meetings the tension was resolved and in 1996 the infrastructure for the landfill commenced. Since 1998, the rehabilitation has been ongoing, when one cell was full. The Plant Rescue Project commenced in 1999 and the Education Boma was constructed in 2000, while the initial gas extraction on cells one and two commenced in the same year. After a meeting with the World Bank in 2002, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project was implemented. A major highlight for the project was the awarding of the Conservancy status in 2004.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
The EMA is only 1.4% of the total Kwa-Zulu Natal Province, but it contains over a third of the population and 60% of the provincial economic activity. An estimated 3 million people live in the area, while the Mariannhill landfill site receives 450 tons of general municipal waste per day from the Pinetown, Westville, Queensborough and Kloof area. This stream represents about 15% of the total waste of the EMA. Given these facts, Durban was faced with a serious problem with regard to how to dispose of waste and with the encroachment of urban settlements very little vacant land was available for waste disposal. New landfill sites in close proximity to urban settlement became a necessity and with people’s awareness of the environmental impacts of landfill site, it was never going to be easy for any municipality to establish new landfill sites.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
After 1994, the Council emphasised the environmental sustainability of new projects. This new vision was implemented with the Mariannhill landfill project and the main priority was to ensure that no pollution of the natural environment occurred. Due to financial constraints that affect most municipalities, the municipality had to be realistic about what could be achieved in the short, medium and long term. As the Plant Rescue operation was not capital intensive and would result in the preservation of many indigenous plants, it commenced immediately. To prevent the escape of gas that caused odours, a gas extraction plant was established. This significantly reduced the odour plume. After some research it was decided that Nitrification using a Sequential Batch Reactor was the most suitable technology to use for leachate treatment. The Kyoto Protocol which allows developed countries to purchase emission reductions from developing countries in order to transfer cleaner technology and financial resources and lowers global carbon emissions, has provided a key avenue for the local municipality to raise additional revenue through the sale of carbon credits.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The initial strategy was to change the attitude of the community and NGOs as the Mariannhill site would be operational for about 25 years. So meetings were held with various NGOs and communities to fully understand their concerns and motivations. Through this dialogue, the municipality realised that they could address some of the concerns with little effort and the NGOs and communities realised that the municipality was not bent on destroying the environment. This common understanding between the municipality and the various interest groups enabled all parties to work together so that the project could be implemented. The Council and Councillors were then convinced that it was in their best interest to support the project and with financial support from e’Thekwini municipality the project commenced. Where the municipality lacked the required expertise, private consultants and contractors were brought on board to provide assistance. Here British Consultants performed an important role in assisting with both the leachate and gas projects, while willingly empowering local engineers with this technology. Without the World Bank the electricity project would never have succeeded. Because the community were kept abreast of the developments, they were supportive and enabled the municipality to focus on the technical issues of service delivery.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
This project has shown how landfills can be well managed in close proximity to domestic residents (200m) without being detrimental to the health of the people or damaging the environment. The community is better off as the landfill has no impact on the surrounding environment. In fact, it’s impact has been positive as there is less illegal dumping and once the site is closed it will be a green lung for the area. The surrounding community has received extensive environmental education and this goes a long way to addressing issues relating to global warming. The natural wildlife benefits, as there is a 50-hectare of protected land where they can live safely. The City will also benefits from the sale of Carbon Credits to the value of some R50 million over the next 10 years. This will bring in much needed capital to address other environmental challenges that confront the City of Durban.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
Mariannhill landfill has been operational since July 1997 and continues to be managed as envisaged. Tariffs are collected, income is generated from the sale of electricity and carbon credits. To date the project has propagated plants to a value in excess of R2 million and the value continues to grow. The savings achieved by the municipality is being utilised to meet service delivery backlogs. In traditional waste management practices, the cost to the environment and rehabilitation of areas far exceeds the current operational costs of Mariannhill landfill. DSW has set a precedent that has become the best practice that other municipalities want to emulate. To this effect, officials from numerous municipalities have been to visit the site to see how it is operated and managed, while staff from several municipalities, such as, Buffalo City, Pietermaritzburg, Howick, Johannesburg have been trained. In addition, several countries, such as Botswana, Uganda, Kenya, Mozambique, India, Malaysia and Iran are currently in negotiations for assistance. DSW has recently opened a new site at Verulam, north of Durban and the same philosophy has been utilised in the design and construction of the site.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The Mariannhill landfill conservancy has revolutionised waste management practices in the country and in Africa. This is highlighted by the following features, which characterised the programme. In the midst of budgetary and capacity constraints, partnerships and consultation between environmental NGOs, the community and the municipality has resulted in each party bringing their particular strength to the programme. The landfill programme has also made the municipality aware that not only can waste management be environmentally sound; it can be lucrative when waste is recycled and when carbon credits are sold to developed countries. The educational aspect of the programme not only educates people about waste management, it also saves the municipality significant funds, when it comes to rehabilitation of the landfill at the end of it’s lifespan.


Institution Name:		e'Thekwini Municipality
Institution Type:		Government Department
Contact Person:		John Parkin
Title:		Deputy Head Plant & Engineering
Telephone/ Fax:		+27 31 311 8820
Institution's / Project's Website:		+27 31 263 1119
E-mail:		johnpa@dmws.durban.gov.za
Address:		PO Box 1038
Postal Code:		4000
City:		Durban
State/Province:		Kwa-Zulu Natal
Country:		South Africa

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information