Greening the Future

In 1998, the Mail & Guardian launched this supplement, Greening the Future. This was near the end of a big decade for sustainability, with the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and the Kyoto Protocol on climate change in 1997. In a newly-free South Africa, there was hope that we could create a better world.

Creating that world would be the work of individuals, groups, government and companies. 

The intro to those first awards noted that they “are aimed at recognising these new trends and rewarding those companies, organisations and individuals who, by investing in the environment, are investing in our future”.

Our awards would therefore be a way of encouraging this progress, of celebrating those who wake up every day and work to make this country a better, more sustainable place. 

In big picture terms, it feels like we have not gone far since then. South Africa remains, per person, the 14th highest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world. Eskom continues to dominate our pollution landscape, both poisoning the communities where coal power plants work and the wider world with greenhouse gasses. 

We are still locked into a dangerous level of climate change. The world heating at deadly levels. Ecosystems are collapsing. The natural world is in freefall because we have changed so much, so quickly. That pollution is aided by non-compliant corporations which might have greased the palms of some government officials to continue with business-as-usual. And all of this, has caused numerous types of ailments, while threatening our future well-being. 

After Covid-19, it does seem like 2020 is a really bleak time for us, and our planet. But in the midst of the lockdown nature began to breathe again. As we slowed down, the world literally, started shaking less. Pollution decreased. Rivers became healthier. We breathed cleaner air. This came at a vast human cost. It is, all the same, a sign of what we could do. 

The projects and individuals that we have awarded for over two decades are all showing us the way. This year’s finalists and winners give us, if we listen to them, a blueprint for a more sustainable world. 

That’s something we all want.   

Climate change initiatives offer the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) an opportunity to raise living standards for all

The City of Johannesburg Mayoral Committee has approved a city-wide Climate Action Plan, (CAP) with the objective of transitioning towards carbon neutrality and a resilient city by 2050. It is a long-term ambitious plan that seeks to contribute to the objectives of the City’s Growth & Development Plan and the aspirations of the Paris Agreement. 

To ensure implementation takes place, the plan has immediate, short- and medium-term planning and implementation horizons.  The Plan demonstrate that climate change is not solely an environmental issue, but is inextricably linked to the challenges of eradicating poverty, accelerating service delivery and increasing inclusiveness. Climate change initiatives offer the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) an opportunity to raise living standards for all at a faster rate by following a low-carbon and resilience development path. There is also evidence that reducing inequality helps to drive better environmental outcomes. 

The CAP seeks to accelerate implementation in the following 10 areas to reduce greenhouse gases and adapt to climate change: 

• Ensuring affordable and clean energy — increasing the City’s renewable energy uptake;
• Improving waste management — reducing and diverting municipal solid waste generation;
• Optimizing energy efficiency in buildings — maximising energy efficiency in new buildings, City-owned building and all buildings in the long run;  
• Enabling next generation mobility, with a focus on providing access to safe, affordable and carbon-neutral transport;   
• Improving water supply and treatment — reviewing energy usage and potential energy savings and opportunities;
• Ensuring water security — providing access to reliable water supply and sanitation services, and ensuring water security;
• Ensuring resilient human settlements — providing access to safe and sustainable open spaces, by increasing tree coverage;
• Managing flood and drought — enhancing early warning systems for climatic hazards; 
• Ensuring resilient city infrastructure — upgrading urban stormwater infrastructure and urban planning; and
• Ensuring healthy communities — intensifying measures to improve the quality of air, green coverage and passive building cooling, and improving access to fresh food. 

Why a climate change focus?

The CoJ is the hub for a large proportion of South Africa’s economic activities such as mining, heavy industry, commercial enterprise, and subsequently increasing urban population. As a result, there is immense pressure on the receiving environment, impacting negatively on our climate and the quality of air we breathe. The following are some of the reasons why the City is focusing so strongly on climate change: 

• To understand the imminent and inevitable impacts of climate change, their effect, and to identify areas and communities that are most vulnerable to those impacts;
• To manage and respond to climate change impacts by improving the City’s resilience;
• To contribute towards a low carbon future in a just manner;
• To make a meaningful contribution towards the national and global climate targets under the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as a responsible national and global citizen;
• To help in ensuring a green recovery of the City from the Covid-19 pandemic; and
• To demonstrate leadership.

Category Winner: EnviroServ

“That old saying of we only have one Earth is so true. We cannot maintain life as human beings or the diversity of life on Earth or our ecosystems unless we embrace sustainability.”

To prove their commitment, the company has dedicated 30% of their workforce to focus on recycling and discovering alternative waste management efforts.

What started as a door-to-door waste collection service more than four decades ago has become South Africa’s largest waste management company. EnviroServ has led the way in the industry, priding themselves on innovative and sustainable solutions to the issue of dealing with waste. One of the ways in which they tackle food waste has seen the company working with SA Breweries and industrial bakeries for the past 16 years, to turn wet grain and dough that would ordinarily get dumped in a landfill into nutritional animal feed.

In 1979, there were no privately owned waste companies willing to service township areas. Local entrepreneurs noted this gap in the market and launched EnviroServ (then Wade Refuse), going door-to-door to collect and dispose of waste. 

“This intrepid and pioneering spirit still informs everything we do today,” says Yolandi Kruger, project manager at EnviroServ.

The company offers a broad range of services and products for dealing with waste, such as the handling of hazardous substances, recycling and landfill management. EnviroServ takes on all of their customers’ waste needs with a zero-to-landfill approach, noting that waste management and sustainability are inseparable.

Waste is a big issue for the food industry, not only for profits, but also because of the negative effects it has on the environment. Organic waste in landfills is responsible for high methane emissions, which is why one of the government’s environmental goals is to divert this waste.

EnviroServ has two tanks on-site at SA Breweries that are filled every day with spent yeast. The company then delivers this high-protein grain and yeast mix to various farms, where the product actually increases milk production in cows and is a fraction of the cost of other fodder.

EnviroServ’s recycling team also tackles food waste in the baking industry. Bakers usually discard the first batch of dough that runs through a machine when starting on a new recipe, and also throw away batches not suitable for use. Rather than sending this dough to landfills, EnviroServ collects it directly from bakeries. The dough is then treated with other organic waste stream ingredients and becomes a nutritional livestock feed.

Not only is the company passionate about sustainable waste management, it also prioritises social responsibility, becoming the country’s only waste company to claim Level 1 BBBEE certification in 2018. 

In keeping with EnviroServ’s pioneering nature, innovation is a core value. “Even if there is not a solution for a specific waste stream now, new technologies mean that we are always on the lookout,” says Kruger. 

To prove their commitment, the company has dedicated 30% of their workforce to focus on recycling and discovering alternative waste management efforts.

EnviroServe currently owns and manages eleven  treatment and disposal facilities, all of which were designed by top civil engineers. Their facilities are designed to treat every kind of waste material in a way that preserves the environmental balance
and in accordance with legislative standards. 

“We are focused on finding beneficial uses for every waste stream that we manage and create something of value, boosting the economy by creating jobs,” says Kruger. — Andie Reeves

Bridgett Majola, director @ CMS South Africa

“When I was much younger, I used to pick up litter on my way to school and recycle it,” says lawyer Bridgett Majola. “Anyone at any level can contribute to sustainability. It draws on politics, economics, philosophy and other sectors.”

Specialising in project finance for construction, operation and maintenance of renewable energy generation facilities in South Africa in terms of the government’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme, Majola conducts legal due diligence and provides advice to buyers interested in renewable energy projects. 

“My team and I work closely with people who are actively funding renewable energy projects, from biomass projects to solar photovoltaic, wind and concentrated solar,” she explains.

Majola has used her experience in corporate and commercial legal work to develop guidelines for government, developers and lenders to roll out sustainable alternative energy projects. — Afrika Bogatsu