+IMPACT MAGAZINE ISSUE 26

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Making space for
WASTE
As we edge towards a circular economy, the waste we’re
generating should be minimal. Buildings need to be
consciously designed to include not just space for waste
removal, but also dedicated waste management areas.
WORDS Linus Naik & Melissa van Rensburg
IMAGES Supplied
Space for Waste” can be tied
to the evolving landscape of waste
management in Africa. When looking
“Making
at Africa’s infrastructure journey, the
historical roots reveal a story of rapid development without
due consideration for waste management.
Following the scramble for Africa, only Liberia and
Ethiopia had retained their independence by the advent
of WWI. For the first half of the 20th century, there was
rapid development and expansion of capital cities, driven
primarily by the exploitation of natural resources at the
expense of human capital.
A similar analogy can be drawn between infrastructure
and waste, where there was major development, without
consideration for what would happen to the waste generated.
Prior to 1980, in Africa at least, the prevailing business
model followed the linear economy principles: take, make,
waste – and this was reflected in the way buildings were
designed. As an example, there are shopping centres in
major central business districts (CBDs) with a gross leasable
area of well over 130 000m 2 , but only 10m 2 set aside for waste
management. The area allocated to waste was essentially
a storage area for bins for disposal.
With increased environmental awareness after peak oil
(1970s), recycling became a novelty and was only really
employed when it made financial sense. By that time,
however, most of these larger CBDs where the shopping
centres existed had already been built, so there was no
space for the management and sorting of waste. As noted,
all the waste was simply put into bins for removal by the
municipality and taken to landfill.
Most major metropolitan areas
will reach the end of their landfill space
within the next 10 years.
From a linear to circular economy
WASTE MANAGEMENT IN SA
Here in South Africa, the waste management policy was
called “The minimum requirements for safe disposal of
waste to landfill”, and everything was tailored to support
the safe disposal of waste to landfill. So, while there may
have been a space for waste, there was no actual space
for waste management. As such, even buildings built as
recently as the early 2000s did not make adequate space
for waste management, only waste removal. Some recent
developments in recently gentrified Gauteng and the
Northern Cape have been built with no access for waste
removal vehicles, because waste was clearly an afterthought.
Currently, however, we are making more space for
waste management. The Green Building Council South
Africa (GBCSA) is presently reviewing the Green Star
New Build V2 tool – under the responsible construction
and responsible waste management credits – to ensure
that enough space is being dedicated for waste. The
tool covers best-practice guidelines used to calculate
waste generation rates and justify access arrangements.
Essentially, buildings will need to be consciously designed
with responsible waste handling, which means sufficient
space for sorting and storage of various general waste
grades and responsible handling of any hazardous waste.
Current best practice will have collected waste (ideally
with some degree of source separation) making its way to
the waste area. Recyclables are sorted into final grades
and sold for a rebate and the non-recyclable waste is
consolidated for disposal. Don’t Waste has in-house
expertise to assist with the design and planning of bespoke
waste handling and sorting areas, and specialises in best
practice on-site waste management.
That said, the recycling of waste is only halfway up
the waste hierarchy as the preferred treatment option.
Furthermore, if there is a portion of waste that is being
recycled, it means that there is still a portion being
disposed of, which is not ideal.
This is exacerbated by the fact that most major
metropolitan areas will reach the end of their landfill
space within the next 10 years. The way to solve this
is to minimise the amount of waste by strategically
understanding what steps will have the best impact on
the diversion rate and the environment.
An example of a
waste area design
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