Mishandling of waste can have a variety of consequences on our everyday life. Besides creating an unhealthy and unhygienic living environment, it is responsible for the spread of diseases, pollution of lakes and water bodies leading to loss of biodiversity and the inefficient use of land and our resources. It is extremely important that we organize and manage the waste management sector of our country, which is an infrastructural necessity for all of the other sectors to survive.
According to a World Bank estimate, an individual in a developing country produces an average of 0.45 – 0.50 kg of municipal solid waste. The cities and towns of South Africa generate approximately 17,000 tons of waste per day most of which do not get treated or disposed of in the right manner. Within the next 25 years, the number is estimated to reach 47,064 tons per day. The Iliso Care Society Waste Management Program has been designed to resolve the waste problem in Khayelitsha and surrounding areas in Cape Town as well as in the Eastern Cape.
The Program aims to put in force sustainable systems of waste collection, segregation, and treatment along with a controlled, systematic and creative ways of reducing waste generation across the country.
LONG TERM VISION: The Program hopes to accomplish four goals in the long term:
Create Efficiency and Convenience within Systems-usage
Change the Culture of Waste Handling through Mass-scale Education Programs
Develop & Implement Creative New Solutions using Research and Development
Utilize the Most Advanced Technology for Every day Systems & Operation