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Cape Town - August 2007
1. Wide of landfill site - camera zoom in
2. Various of landfill site
3. Various recycler at landfill
4. Various of Nicholas Farmer, Recycler
5. SOUNDBITE (English): Nicolas Farmer, Recycler:
'At the moment we collecting, like, copper wire, and aluminium and all sorts of stuff, and newspaper and white paper. And there is a guy who has a contract - we're selling the stuff to him.'
6. Various of landfill
7. Entrance to Athlone Refuse Transfer Station
8. Dennis Nuthall directs the crane
9. SOUNDBITE (English): Mr Dennis Nuthall, Shift Supervisor, Athlone Refuse Transfer Station:
'We receive up to 1400 to 1700 tons a day. If you take ten years ago, we were getting around 600 - 800 tons, so the capacity has grown over ten years.'
10. Wide of machine creating mulch at a municipal drop off from garden waste
11. Recycling depot (Footprints NGO)
12. Recycling collection points
13. SOUNDBITE (English): Rustim Keraan, Director Solid Waste Management, Cape Town municipality
'The city as of today has started the roll out of the split bag collection in certain areas, and it's a pilot phase, so we realise that the system isn't perfect, and we're going to learn our lessons and burn our fingers on the pilot phase. And then once we've made significant improvements, it's then our intention to roll it out to the rest of the city.'
14. Various of Mary Murphy, Environmentalist walking with wheelie bin
15. SOUNDBITE (English): Mary Murphy, Environmentalist
'Nature knows no waste, and only human beings have created this concept called waste. And the way we've been addressing it is essentially the slogan: reduce, reuse, recycle. I like the idea, add one on: rethink, because it's really about thinking what you're creating in the first place, and bringing into the world in the first place.'
16. Mary Murphy and Ray Chaplin walking with wheelie bin
17. Murphy talks to the public about waste minimisation
18. SOUNDBITE (English): Mary Murphy, Environmentalist
"Cardboard, paper, organics. So, kitchen waste - bananas, peels, apples. Now if you look at all this waste alone, that I have in this little bin, this can all be fed to earthworms, composted, so it can be into a soil conditioner to grow vegetables. I'm going to put this into this bin, because we are going to bring that back to our earthworms. Look at all that waste that would have been in this very big bin. It doesn't need to go. "
19. Cutaway box with waste
20. SOUNDBITE (English): Mary Murphy, Environmentalist
" The other type of key waste you get is plastic. We're going to chuck this over here, because Waste Plan is going to make sure this plastic is recycled. This is not recyclable. So we have to watch out for these kinds of things. They're not recyclable. Again, ask the retailers that the package it in a way that we can recycle. The other thing - cans. Cans we can simply squash and easy to recycle. So, not too grand, but we're going to recycle in the recycle bin. Again, glass bottles. Better if we can reuse them. Some people reuse bottles which is far more better and efficient for the environment but mostly now we try and recycle glass, and again instead of putting it in.. you can see the volume it would take up in this bin, shouldn't go into the bin, shouldn't go to landfill, should be recycled. So we're going to put that in the recycling bin. Ray, another, and there we go. We're sorted. There's nothing left in this bin. Nothing's going to landfill. "
21. Various of consumer separating waste at home
22. Various consumer drops off empty bottles at glass recycling depot
LEAD IN:
Africa's southernmost city, Cape Town, is facing a crisis over what to do with the large amounts of waste it's producing.
Environmentalists now want local people to realise that recycling rubbish can no longer the sole responsibility of the municipality.
In Cape Town, 2.6 million tons of solid waste is generated each year.
Of this, only about 14% is recycled.
Cape Town is facing a waste crisis with its landfill sites nearing maximum capacity.
Nicholas Farmer sorts through rubbish at the landfill for firms that have recycling contracts with the municipality.
They separate a relatively small amount of waste at this landfill site at Coastal Park, less than 1% of the total waste here.
The Athlone Refuse Transfer Station is one of 20 sorting stations in Cape Town.
Waste collected by the municipality in this area is brought here to be weighed and compacted.
Shift Supervisor Dennis Nuthall says the amount of waste processed at the Athlone Station has doubled over the last ten years.
From the transfer stations, the compacted waste is taken to one of Cape Town's landfill sites.
Three of the city's 6 landfill sites closed over the last two years as they were full to capacity.
The remaining three will be full to maximum capacity within three to five years.
Coastal Park is one of the three remaining landfill sites in and around Cape Town.
Some companies collect waste like steel, cans and paper before it reaches the landfills, making up the majority of the city's 14% waste recycling.
Members of the public can use one of the municipal drop offs for waste like garden refuse, rubble and used oil.
NGOs like Footprints have recycling depots, and larger industry offer collection points for waste like glass, paper and cans.
The city's Director of Solid Waste Management Rustim Keraan, says Cape Town municipality is now rolling out a pilot split bag project, whereby waste is separated at home.
Waste separation will facilitate sorting and recycling at the upcoming municipal pilot recycling depots.
Meanwhile, environmentalists Mary Murphy and Ray Chaplin are not content to wait for policy implementation.
Recently they pushed a wheelie bin 100 kilometres (62 miles) around the Cape Peninsula.
The purpose of the walk has been to raise awareness of the importance of waste minimisation and the landfill crisis.
Murphy and Chaplin spoke to local people along the route to emphasise that waste minimisation begins with each individual.
Murphy says 80% of what we usually throw in garbage bins can easily be reused or recycled.
She says we need to take better care of our planet, and the onus lies with each individual to reduce, reuse and recycle.
She suggests that people separate their waste at home, and drop off recyclable goods at a recycling centre.
