3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Local state practices of informal waste picker integration: the case of the Metsimaholo Local Municipality, Sasolburg(2019-09-06) Guya, Maria JokuduInformal waste picker integration into formal waste management systems in South Africa is supported by the recognition of waste pickers as an important part of recycling in the National Waste Management Strategy (DEA, 2011a). Although informal waste pickers have gained government recognition, little research has focused on the challenges that municipalities and municipal officials face regarding their integration. While the responsibility for waste management is vested in local municipalities through the South African Constitution, policy instruments and tools that guide municipal practices are limited. This affects the practices of municipal officials in relation to the informal sector and the approaches taken to recognise the informal sector. The Metsimaholo Local Municipality which includes Sasolburg, an industrial town, presents a good case for the study of challenges faced by local municipalities. The case of Sasolburg is unique, in comparison to other South African municipalities, because the local municipality was not the key driver of integration. Integration was initiated by informal waste pickers seeking municipal recognition for their role in waste reclaiming (Samson, 2009). The literature threads I focus on include waste recycling systems in the global South and practices of local state officials. The aim of the research report was to understand the challenges that municipal officials face regarding the integration of informal waste pickers into the formal waste management system. The objective of the research was to understand the practices of state officials in the municipality. A key finding that emerged was that waste picker integration has been a challenge for officials because waste management in the MLM prioritises waste collection and disposal services with little guidance for the diversification of solid waste management to include waste pickers. In this context waste management officials’ practice is guided by an understanding of waste picker integration as the contracting of waste picker cooperatives, which results in an absence of initiatives to integrate the majority of waste pickers who work independently on the streets and in the landfills.Item A city defiled: redesigning the johannesburg cecycling depot, rescuing a city drowning in landfills(2019) Richardson, ShannonThis research report tells a story of how people respond to waste, the implications and the seriousness of this and how architecture and space could play a role in a solution. These inter-woven relationships are explored with reference to the global problem, and a specific focus on South Africa's (mostly Johannesburg's) battle with this plight. As such, this report addresses the essential aspects of the issue at both a national as well as an international scale. The City of Johannesburg's waste management system is flawed. Landfill sites are quickly encroaching on to the living spaces of the less fortunate as these mounds continue to grow. The system is broken from the wasteful consumer, to the disregarded recycler, to the littered mounds growing extremely fast, but how do we fix it? It seems the solution is in the process, Johannesburg is home to a prominent yet disregarded figure who scours the streets in search for the very items we so easily throw away, but where do they take it? To the very landfills engulfing their living space. Most of our landfills are situated next to townships as part of The Group Areas Act, a crucial pillar of the segregation agenda during apartheid. Waste would be ‘imported’ from privileged white areas to impoverished, working-class black areas. Essentially that is what is happening now as poor waste management has resorted in the informal recyclers having to litter their homes to earn a wage. With the end goal being zero waste to landfill, an intervention housing campaign strategies involving propaganda to try educate the public on reuse and recycling is not enough. As how does this directly deal with the landfill problem. I think the solution is in the process of how waste is recycled and Johannesburg's waste management system, therefore I intend to redesign the Johannesburg recycling depot. Through architecture, this research report introduces a redesign of these ‘middle men’ type depots, into a multifaceted recycling station which will include a weigh station, sorting station and baling and buy back centre. A municipal solid waste to energy incineration plant will also be added, now pressure will be taken off the landfills and hopefully the landfills themselves could be sorted and reprocessed back into the depot. This will provide a more organised and material specific station where industry can buy back their recyclable goods. The more organic waste that is left over is then incinerated in the plant and that energy will be placed into the electrical grid. It is also important to me to find a site that would be easily accessible to the Informal Recyclers, close to their routes and not on a landfill as once the landfills have been reprocessed there is an opportunity for land reform. The architectural intervention should also have a social layer linking the informal recycler to the recycling depot, acting as a base camp of sorts for these nomadic people.Item Solid waste management in South Africa: exploring the role of the informal sector in solid waste recycling in Johannesburg(2017) Dlamini, Smangele QondileInformal solid waste recycling has increasingly become part of the urban landscape in many South African cities and towns. In the city of Johannesburg, for example, waste pickers are now playing an important role in waste management and recycling. There is evidence in the literature that suggests these activities have both economic and environmental benefits thereby contributing towards job creation and environmental sustainability. Despite the role that the informal sector contributes to waste management and socio-economic development, as well as environmental sustainability, the urban development and planning policy in South Africa has not embraced and integrated informal systems of municipal waste management in its policy framework. Drawing on field-based study conducted in selected parts of the City of Johannesburg, and using methods inspired by the traditional participatory research, this study explored the institutional framework within which informal solid waste management can be pursued. One solution to this problem could be the integration of the informal sector recycling into the formal waste management system. To achieve informal sector recycling integration, this study identifies barriers that hinder the integration of the informal sector into an inclusive waste management: repressive policy, lack of evidence to support activity, social acceptance, illegal migrants and lack of valid citizenship documents. It is essential to note that the integration of waste pickers should not be grounded on a ‘universal’ model but should instead take into account local context and conditions.