Looking to the future: Innovative solutions for managing wastes with high energy content

South Africa is rapidly running out of landfill airspace, and the granting of new licenses specifically for the landfilling of waste remains a challenge. The South African Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) has acknowledged that certain waste types can be recovered and reused through the notion of converting waste to energy. This has led to the formulation of regulations to divert waste from landfill by prohibiting or restricting certain waste types from landfill disposal. Included in these wastes are liquids and waste with significant calorific value. These landfill restrictions have been in effect from 2013 and have become more stringent with each passing year, where from August 2019, all liquids will be banned from landfill. In addition, the disposal to landfill of hazardous waste with calorific values greater than 25MJ/kg has been prohibited since August 2017. These restrictions mean that managers and generators of waste will be obligated to find alternative and innovative approaches to dispose of these waste types.