Abstract

Leon Rodney Kenny and Tabukeli Musigi Ruhiiga

The study was carried out in order to describe the capacity constraints in the waste chain of South Africa’s secondary mining towns. The municipalities selected were Matlosana in the North West Province, Merafong in the Gauteng Province, eMalahleni in the Mpumalanga Province and Matjhabeng in the Free State Province. A typical solid waste management system in a developing country displays an array of constraints. These centre on low collection coverage; irregular waste collection services; crude open dumping; burning without air and water pollution control; the breeding of flies and vermin; the handling and control of informal waste picking and scavenging activities. The intensity of these constraints vary from different areas and across different cities. At a second level, the waste chain itself is both a physical-technical system and a social system. To this end, particular constraints relate to material flows along the chain and to the management and personnel components of service delivery. The results of this study indicate that these constraints directly talk to concerns in public health, environmental and waste management systems and can be categorised into technical, financial, institutional, economic, and social constraints. These factors have negative effects on the development of effective solid waste management systems