Landfills are a major contributor to global warming due to the gases released during decomposition of organic waste over 30-50 years. South Africa still uses a Third World approach of dumping all garbage into one bag for municipalities to dispose of at landfills, unlike European countries that separate waste into bags for organic, plastic, paper and metal to allow for more efficient recycling. As waste decomposes in landfills, it releases methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide while also creating leachate with pollutants that threaten underground water supplies.

1. LANDFILLS
One of the most overlooked contributors to global warming is landfills. Considering
the disposal of waste, South Africa is far behind, still involved in a Third World
approach where consumers merely need to put ALL their garbage into one garbage
bag. The onus is then for the municipalities to deposit these at landfills.
While many European, Scandinavian and American countries have accepted a
system of having different waste bags for different items i.e. organic waste, plastic,
paper and metal. Our local private waste management companies are operating on
a basis of placing separate garbage bins for the same purpose. This not only allows
for individual categories of waste to be compounded together, but more efficiently
handled in the resale thereof to recyclers of these materials.
Our domestic waste, however, is unceremoniously, picked up and literally ”dumped”
at a landfill site, layer upon layer, for anything from 30 to 50 years at a time. Over
this period, as the rain falls, combined with a heat factor, the organic waste is
decomposed, creating the release of a variety of gases such as methane, nitrous
oxide and carbon dioxide to mention just a few.
At the same time leachate is formed in which numerous pollutants are present that
have a very detrimental effect on the water table beneath the landfill. Many
communities dependant on this groundwater may then be affected by this.