Bearing in mind that organic waste, including food waste, that is disposed of in landfills significantly contributes to global warming, the City’s Urban Waste Management Directorate is calling on businesses and residents to be mindful of their food waste over the Christmas period. Read more below:

In addition, food waste negatively impacts food security significantly. Based on this, the City of Cape Town has developed a Food Systems Programme which includes efforts to reduce food waste by the Urban Waste Management Directorate, and other public and private stakeholders.

‘Composting your food scraps and green waste using a composter, or compost heap means that your food waste is broken down aerobically, with no methane gas being produced. This helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions while creating rich compost fertiliser for your garden. The City has already distributed more than 28 500 home composting containers to residents across the metro, free of charge and offers tips to anyone wishing to start their own organic waste diversion and composting at home – a home composting container is not a necessity for this.

‘Capetonians are also very good at using our food innovatively, so we encourage you to draw on these skills, converting leftovers into new delicious dishes, and trying to throw away as little food as possible. We understand that excess usually does go hand in hand with the festive period, but try to plan for as little excess food as possible. The less food going into the bin, the better. Hotels, restaurants and retailers can also search online for food redistribution organisations in Cape Town, who already have networks in place to redistribute edible excess food to those in need.

‘Garbage buried at landfill breaks down at a very slow rate and remains a problem for future generations. I call on all businesses and residents to join the City’s efforts to reduce food waste, especially over the Christmas period to positively contribute to the environment and generations to come,’ said Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Waste Management, Alderman Grant Twigg.

Residents with a garden/outdoor space for a composting container/heap can find information and tips here: https://bit.ly/3vIMK7J

In the meantime, the City is tackling organic waste that has already been disposed of at our landfills by establishing infrastructure that can safely extract and convert landfill gas to carbon dioxide, a far less harmful greenhouse gas, before it enters the atmosphere, or even burn this gas to create electricity. See here, here, here and here for details.

Source: City Of Cape Town