4 February 2008

SEVERAL thousand tons of construction waste is to be recycled by the City of Cape Town and 'ploughed back' into the building industry over the next three years.

In a major effort to minimise waste, the City has appointed Melani Materials, a BEE subsidiary of Afrimat, to remove construction waste from the municipality's landfill sites and to process these into highly sought after in-fill material.

As from February 2008, Melani Materials is to install mobile rubble crushing units at the landfill sites at Coastal Park, near Muizenberg and Bellville South. Each unit is capable of crushing approximately 800 tons of rubble per day. The mobile units are equipped with a water sprinkling system which uses recycled water to suppress dust whilst the machines are operational.

At a later date units will also be installed at the Gordon's Bay Drop-off Depot and the Athlone Refuse Transfer Station.

According to the contract, the crushed material will then be processed according to SABS standards, and sold in bulk commercially as 'layer work materials' in the booming construction industry.

According to Clive Justus, chairperson of the utility services portfolio committee, Cape Town produces up to 6 000 tons of waste per day, 25% of which is made up of construction waste and demolished concrete.

"This waste minimisation project is one of the most significant partnership initiatives the City is implementing as part of its Integrated Waste Management Policy."

"By recycling construction waste, the City not only optimises the use of landfill space, but also helps put back valuable materials into the manufacturing stream."

Melani Materials have been involved in various successful recycling projects in which a mobile crusher is used on site to process demolition material for re-use in the construction of infrastructure.

Source: capetown.gov.za