{"id":121274,"date":"2026-10-16T18:23:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T18:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/?p=121274"},"modified":"2026-10-16T18:23:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T18:23:49","slug":"only-27-of-landfill-sites-in-kwazulu-natal-meet-standards-afriforum-audit-reveals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/only-27-of-landfill-sites-in-kwazulu-natal-meet-standards-afriforum-audit-reveals\/","title":{"rendered":"Only 27% of landfill sites in KwaZulu-Natal meet standards, AfriForum audit reveals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Only 27% \u2013 or three out of the 11 landfill sites and transfer stations audited in KwaZulu-Natal this year as part of AfriForum\u2019s annual landfill audit \u2013 meet the minimum requirements for responsible waste management. The success of these three sites (the Seadoone transfer station in Amanzimtoti, the Endumeni site in Glencoe, and the Empangeni site) is overshadowed by the poor performance of other landfill sites in the province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AfriForum\u2019s landfill audit report further indicates that sites in KwaZulu-Natal achieved an average compliance score of only 56% this year. This is marginally better than the Eastern Cape, which recorded a compliance score of 55%, but significantly lower than the Western Cape and Gauteng, which achieved 66% and 64% respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This year, AfriForum audited 132 landfill sites and transfer stations across all nine provinces; however, only 30 sites (or 23% of the total) met at least 80% of the audit requirements. This suggests that, on average, approximately eight out of every ten sites nationwide exhibit serious shortcomings regarding infrastructure, operational management, or compliance with basic requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to AfriForum\u2019s landfill audit report, which has just been released, sites in KwaZulu-Natal \u2013 despite their overall poor performance \u2013 have shown an improvement over last year\u2019s record; eight of the 11 audited sites managed to slightly improve their compliance score.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, Eugene van Aswegen, AfriForum\u2019s District Coordinator for the province, believes that this marginal improvement is insufficient. \u201cThe Newcastle landfill, which serves the largest urban centre in northern KwaZulu-Natal, performed among the worst in the province \u2013 alongside the Paulpietersburg and Vryheid landfills \u2013 achieving a compliance score of only 34%,\u201d explains Van Aswegen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of the 11 landfill sites audited in KwaZulu-Natal, the following four sites failed to even reach a compliance score of 40% (the compliance score is indicated in parentheses):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Paulpietersburg, eDumbe Local Municipality (14)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Vryheid, AbaQulusi Local Municipality (24)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Newcastle, Newcastle Local Municipality (34)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hluhluwe, Big 5 Hlabisa Local Municipality (36)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe poor performance of landfill sites in KwaZulu-Natal leaves much to be desired. For a province that has to serve approximately 20% of the country\u2019s population, effective waste management is non-negotiable \u2013 an issue with far-reaching impacts on people and the environment. There is no longer time for excuses; the municipalities\u2019 poor performance in this audit clearly indicates that we are heading toward a disaster,\u201d concludes Van Aswegen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Vullisterreinverslag-2026_ENG_FINAAL-1.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of Vullisterreinverslag 2026_ENG_FINAAL.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-7dc0d7ed-99d3-4ef0-aabd-ae4af4c27ca8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Vullisterreinverslag-2026_ENG_FINAAL-1.pdf\">Vullisterreinverslag 2026_ENG_FINAAL<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Vullisterreinverslag-2026_ENG_FINAAL-1.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-7dc0d7ed-99d3-4ef0-aabd-ae4af4c27ca8\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Only 27% \u2013 or three out of the 11 landfill sites and transfer stations audited in KwaZulu-Natal this year as&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":121275,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[11177,11166,11162],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-affairs-media-statements","category-environmental-affairs-media-statements","category-media-statements"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":11177,"label":"Community 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