Page 16 - DUT Excellence 2024 S1

ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY TAKES BOLD STRIDES TOWARDS ZERO WASTE
Pictured: Bins with organic waste. Picture supplied by Warwick Zero Waste Project Team.
In a significant leap towards sustainable waste management, eThekwini Municipality, building on the triumph of Durban’s Warwick Zero-Waste (WZW) Project, has inked a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with civil society partners.
The MOU sets the stage for collaborative efforts between the municipality, the Urban Futures Centre (UFC) at Durban University of Technology (DUT), non-governmental organisations, and groundWork.
Originating in 2021 as a grassroots collaboration, the Warwick Zero- Waste Project initially brought together eThekwini Municipality, informal traders, waste workers and NGOs. The success of the
initiative, aimed at managing organic waste in the Markets of Warwick, prompted the formalisation of a partnership through the recently signed MOU.
The MOU focuses on three crucial eThekwini Municipality Units: Business Support, Markets, Tourism and Agribusiness Unit (BSMTAU), Cleansing and Solid Waste (CSW) Unit, and Parks, Recreation, and Culture (PRC) Unit. Together they are committed to the effective management of organic waste, diverting it from landfills to produce nutrient-rich compost.
Dr Tamlynn Fleetwood, co-investigator at the UFC and lead of the composting pilot, emphasises that “rethinking and restructuring
our waste management systems and practices is important. The Warwick Zero-Waste project has unlocked economically viable solutions that are socially and environmentally just.”
Starting modestly by diverting organic waste from theWarwick Early Morning Market, the project aims to gradually scale up operations with the ultimate goal to divert the entire 400 tonnes of waste generated by the market annually.This not only reduces the city’s solid waste removal costs but also contributes to mitigating climate change by curbing methane emissions from landfills.
The organic waste diverted is transformed into compost at the Durban Botanic Gardens, creating a closed-loop model. This compost benefits the PRC Unit, providing tonnes of rich compost for parks and green spaces in the city at no additional cost.
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DURBAN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY