Cape Town's rotting garbage may be turned into a source of cash - and energy - if the City of Cape Town's plan to capture methane from landfill sites is successful.
It will also reduce the amount of methane, a greenhouse gas, which is allowed to escape into the atmosphere.
Methane is 21 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, both of which contribute to global climate change.
The city council has still to establish which of the recently-closed rubbish dumps will provide methane, how much they will provide and how much cash it will translate into.
They hope this, and the methane captured from operating landfills, will offset the R800-million the council will have to spend over the next few years to rehabilitate landfills that have reached capacity at Swartklip, Faure, Gordon's Bay and Table View.
The old dumps will be turned into "attractive public open spaces", the city said.
The land cannot be used for housing because of the dangers of escaping gas from the rotting rubbish and because the old dumps remain unstable for several decades.
Peter Novella, in charge of the city's landfill sites, said on Tuesday that it was too early to say how much money could be made from the methane captured from the dumps, as the studies had not been done yet, but it was likely to be "a substantial amount".
The sites at Gordon's Bay and Table View had been closed for some time, so would not generate methane in quantities that could be used.
It was possible that the sites at Faure and Swartklip might generate sufficient methane to be exploited, while the operational dumps at Vissershok, Coastal Park and Bellville all generated methane.
Novella said Durban city council was ahead of Cape Town in this regard, and was already generating electricity from the methane captured from its landfill sites.
The city had entered into a memorandum of understanding with a subsidiary company of the department of minerals and energy to capture and use the methane.
"Gas wells" would be drilled into the dumps and a network of underground pipes constructed. The methane captured could be used as a fuel and converted into electricity.
"We have a responsibility both to cap the old sites and to rehabilitate them. All landfills generate methane, a greenhouse gas that has an effect 21 times worse than that of carbon dioxide.
"There are two ways to get rid of it: you can flare it, burn it off, which generates carbon dioxide, the lesser evil, or you can capture it and generate electricity.
"The electricity can be sold and so generate income," Novella said.
The methane could also be used as a valuable source of carbon credits, he said, which could be sold on the international carbon trading market. - Cape Times
It will also reduce the amount of methane, a greenhouse gas, which is allowed to escape into the atmosphere.
Methane is 21 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, both of which contribute to global climate change.
The city council has still to establish which of the recently-closed rubbish dumps will provide methane, how much they will provide and how much cash it will translate into.
| The methane captured could be used as a fuel and converted into electricity |
The old dumps will be turned into "attractive public open spaces", the city said.
The land cannot be used for housing because of the dangers of escaping gas from the rotting rubbish and because the old dumps remain unstable for several decades.
Peter Novella, in charge of the city's landfill sites, said on Tuesday that it was too early to say how much money could be made from the methane captured from the dumps, as the studies had not been done yet, but it was likely to be "a substantial amount".
The sites at Gordon's Bay and Table View had been closed for some time, so would not generate methane in quantities that could be used.
| 'We have a responsibility both to cap the old sites and to rehabilitate them' |
Novella said Durban city council was ahead of Cape Town in this regard, and was already generating electricity from the methane captured from its landfill sites.
The city had entered into a memorandum of understanding with a subsidiary company of the department of minerals and energy to capture and use the methane.
"Gas wells" would be drilled into the dumps and a network of underground pipes constructed. The methane captured could be used as a fuel and converted into electricity.
"We have a responsibility both to cap the old sites and to rehabilitate them. All landfills generate methane, a greenhouse gas that has an effect 21 times worse than that of carbon dioxide.
"There are two ways to get rid of it: you can flare it, burn it off, which generates carbon dioxide, the lesser evil, or you can capture it and generate electricity.
"The electricity can be sold and so generate income," Novella said.
The methane could also be used as a valuable source of carbon credits, he said, which could be sold on the international carbon trading market. - Cape Times
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