A Stink About A Stink

Environmental offender given green light.

- Jonathan Erasmus

The quiet boland town of could soon add a waste-to-energy Wellington – known for its vistas, wine, heritage and brandy – plant to its tourist attractions.

Operated by known environmental offender Interwaste (see noses178,194&209) the plant turns trash into gas for powering turbines that feed the electricity grid. The facility, which falls within the Drakenstein Municipality, obtained the environmental authorisation on 2 November to build a waste-to-energy plant, including a waste incineration facility.

But ironically, while the Department of Environmental Affairs handed Interwaste the keys to operate the Wellington plant, the very next day they were ordering them to padlock their F G Landfill site near Olifantsfontein in Midrand, citing major environmental effects including adverse health problems affecting nearby communities.

In December 2015 Noseweek reported on the F G Landfill. We reported that it was not only humans suffering the effects of F G Landfill’s stink, but the local wildlife too, with birds dying and horses coughing. Residents told Noseweek at the time that they were convinced Interwaste was the source of their problems.

Interwaste blamed the smell on “aeration”. CEO Alan Willcocks said in a statement that the bad whiff was the result of “food waste and waste from the food and beverage industry”.

“Interwaste is diverting in excess of 1,000 tonnes of this kind of waste per month to a facility that uses it for the electricity generation through an anaerobic digestion process,” wrote Willcocks.