Making money out of Joburg's trash

This article was originally published on page 16 of The Star on February 28, 2006 (by Anna Cox)

The city of Johannesburg is investigating a new strategy on reducing waste at landfill sites: methane gas harvesting.

Methane - a major contributor to global warming - is a flammable gas that can be used for beneficial purposes, such as electricity generation and industrial heating.

Methane harvested from landfills will be sold to local gas networks, which will then generate foreign income through the sale of "carbon credits" - commodities that can be purchased by developed nations to help them achieve their Kyoto Protocol targets of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

Each ton of carbon dioxide - or equivalent emissions - saved generates one "carbon credit".

Prem Govender, the City ofJohannesburg's director of the Contract Management Unit said: "We have 36 closed landfill sites and eight of these have gas, but we want to team up with the national government on this project."

The city, in partnership with the British Council of South Africa and Wits University, recently hosted a Zero Carbon Cities Awareness Campaign at the Metro Centre in Braamfontein.

Councillor Mally Mokoena, member of the mayoral committee responsible for development planning, transportation and environment, said: "This campaign should also be seen as the start for the city to produce a local action plan in response to climate change impacts affecting Johannesburg.

"Climate change is considered to be the biggest threat to sustainable development."