July 22, 2011

Creating jobs in one clean sweep

July 22 2011 at 02:22pm

Workplace Staff

Waste disposal is a critical issue in South Africa, and its management is a potential creator of jobs.

Landfills that were originally located in outlying areas 30 years ago are now sitting alongside cities and townships, which have mushroomed to cope with the growing population.

With limited free space available, these dumps are causing a number of adverse environmental conditions such as wind-blown litter, infestation by vermin and the generation of liquid leachate (putrefied liquid that drains from the landfill and contaminates the water table).

Other common by-products are methane and carbon dioxide that result in an unpleasant odour, kill surface vegetation and produce greenhouse gas.

Traditionally waste has been dumped on to these sprawling, open landfills, while the balance is deposited alongside streets, in public spaces or vacant land.

“This lack of waste removal and management impacts directly on vulnerable communities in the form of health, environmental (damage) and the general aesthetics of their living spaces,” says Gavin Glick, director at waste management company The Enterprise Development Corporation (Tedcor).

“Current collection systems are over-stretched and rarely provide recycling services. However, sourcing new landfill sites is not a solution, but merely moves the problem to another area,” he says.

The limited capacity in local councils has also played a role in leaving waste management behind acceptable levels of service delivery. The poorer areas suffer the most as they are under-serviced and in some instances there has been little improvement since 1994.

In his bid to uplift poorer communities, John Houghton, founder of Tedcor, saw a synergy between managed waste removal and job creation.

“In the early ’90s, waste removal was non-existent and still is in many of these areas,” he says. “By linking local residents and emerging contractors looking to start their own enterprises with municipalities that award large-scale waste management tenders, we have a workable model.

“In addition, it also opened the opportunity for banks to fund large-scale vehicle purchases and commercial truck manufacturers to sell their trucks,” he says.

When tenders are awarded to Tedcor, the model is available to selected members of local communities, with the proviso that they meet the basic employment criteria set by Tedcor. They also have to pass an extensive training programme, accredited as a learnership by Unisa.

With Tedcor’s funding and the implementation of the training programme, coupled with ongoing financial and business support, municipalities can move closer to achieving their service delivery goals.

The cost of the qualification, which is spread over the three- to five-year municipality contract, is borne by the company, while MAN Truck and Bus does the training in truck driving skills.

To date there have been over 120 waste management community contractors established throughout the country, with each contractor employing 12 people and servicing 6 000 to 7 000 households.

Many have completed their tender contracts and have gone on to set up SMEs.

Glick says that educating communities in waste recycling is the key to waste management. However, unrecyclable waste can also be used to generate renewable energy.

Waste-to-energy factories are already providing innovative and environmentally friendly solutions to the power and waste crisis.

“We will continue to build a sustainable waste management business and to create entrepreneurs who can compete and operate on their own,” he says.

“Extending our offering into Africa would mean the creation of 5 000 direct jobs.

“We are currently doing feasibility studies in a number of African countries,” he says.