Environmental research

The national definition of waste has been refined to exclude recyclables. Nevertheless, Maun and many other areas in Botswana still lack an easily accessible3 and dedicated solid waste drop off facility to aid recycling efforts. As such, there is no receipt of source separated household and commercial waste recyclables (including from Okavango Delta tourism lodges and operations) such as paper, aluminum cans, plastics and glass for processing, transfer and sale to local downstream users and recycling industries in Gaborone and South Africa. Consequently, the general public in Botswana is not fully aware of the tremendous economic value of mainstream4 solid waste and the role recycling plays in decarbonizing the regional economy and facilitating transition to a green5 one. As a result, all types of waste recyclables are found littering Maun s roads, streets and homes. Ironically, this situation currently translates to handsome profits for only two waste collection and disposal contractors hired by the North West District Council (NWDC). Together with the NWDC, the two combine to deliver well over seven million (7,000,000) kg of solid waste into the Maun landfill per annum. With one of the highest rates of emigration in Botswana, both Maun s population and waste output are set to increase exponentially. If some of the waste is not diverted away from the landfill, much earlier decommissioning of the facility is imminent. Based on knowledge and insight gained from a waste management systems benchmarking field visit to Gauteng Province, South Africa under the aegis of a UNDP GEF/SGP planning grant, Tlhare Segolo Foundation (TSF) herein proposes for the establishment of a large scale public recyclables drop off facility in Maun. Although Botswana is an overall carbon sink, the solid waste management drop off facility is an ideal mitigation to the global crisis of climate change, environmental degradation and depletion of resources. Once established, upper and middle/working class households living in Maun as well as private businesses will be encouraged to drop off specified recyclables for processing (mainly cleaning, compaction and baling). Long distance goods haulage trucks coming to Maun from Gaborone and South Africa often return empty. These shall be identified and discounted rates negotiated with owners to transfer processed recyclables back to source industries. Profit made from the sale of recyclables shall then be used to institutionalize a recyclable/waste buy-back program as a poverty alleviationstrategy and an incentive for sustainable participation of Maun s poor and/or low income households in a nascent green economy. It is important to address the lack of solid waste recycling in Botswana, as there is only one other NGO operating in this field. However, Somarelang Tikologo s drop off facility in Gaborone is very small scale and fails to take advantage of the economy of scale offered by the capital city s market and population size. To be eventually located on a relatively large piece of land (up to 1hectre) which is currently an old burrow pit within Maun core area, our proposed drop off facility shall when completed become a state of the art facility for demonstration and broadcasting of waste management6 best practice in Botswana. The project follows in the footsteps of many other recycling plants that are operating across the globe. This project has already been approved by the NWDC and as such comprises one of the key projects earmarked for joint implementation by the NWDC and TSF in a soon to be ratified Memorandum of Agreement between the two aforementioned development actors. By promoting improved material reuse and recycling efficiency, the project is intended to raise awareness, understanding and commitment to a low carbon economy amongst the local community. As such, the project generally addresses SGP s climate change theme. Moreover, in accordance with the law of pre-requisites, improved awareness, understanding and commitment to carbon neutrality through material re-use and recycling paves way for considerably enhanced uptake or operationalization of SGP OP5 s immediate objective of promoting the demonstration, development and transfer of low carbon technologies at the community level. The livelihood aspect of the project also makes it in line with SGP OP5 s cross cutting results of poverty reduction, livelihoods and gender.

Botswana