By Adolf Kaure.
The Swakopmund Municipal Council announced last week that it will start with a public procurement process to invite all recycling companies to recycle the town’s waste.
According to the chairperson of the Council’s Management Committee, Blasius Goraseb, an extra N$6.9 million is needed to collect reclaimable items from homes, making it unprofitable for the Swakopmund Municipality.
“The Solid Waste Management Department is already collecting waste items from households, both recyclable and non-recyclable without additional expense to Council,” said Goraseb.
There are more funds needed to pay for the monthly operating costs of waste collection equipment like refuse compactor trucks, the monthly salaries of the waste collection team as well as orange recycling refuse bins.
The Swakopmund Municipal Council is also seeking to formulate an agreement with Rent-A-Drum, due to the dropping of rubbish at the Material Recovery Facility being a costly exercise.
During the tabling of the agenda item, other councillors present maintained that solving the concern was a matter urgency. “This is a very critical issue and we don’t want to waste any more time,” said Councillor, Matthias Henrichsen.
Alternate Chairperson of the Swakopmund Municipal Council’s Management Committee, Wilfried Groenewald echoed the same sentiments, saying that “the matter must be the first item to receive priority in terms of implementation.”
Council also resolved that the General Manager of Health Services and Solid Waste Management must investigate alternative options for waste processing.
According to Council, until a complementary solution is created, the Health Services and Solid Waste Management Department will continue to collect and remove waste products from businesses and households.
Furthermore, interested recycling companies have been called on to retrieve recyclable waste directly from the landfill site.
BACKGROUND
According to the Waste Management Hierarchy, preventing waste comes first, then recovery, recycling, and reuse, with disposal cited last.
The gathering of waste materials, their processing or production into new products, and the purchase of those products are the fundamental stages of recycling.
In Namibia, recycling is based on the initial stage of gathering useable waste items because there are no processing or manufacturing facilities in the country.
The waste is sorted, bundled or baled, and then transported and sold in South Africa where private enterprises process it into new products.
Workers recycle waste at the Rent-A-Drum Material Recovery Facility, when the site was officially launched during November 2019. (Photograph by Adolf Kaure)
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