Sustainable waste management solutions for urban settlements: A case study of the City of Johannesburg, South Africa

This case study delves into the response of the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) to its escalating waste management challenges. The city, in pursuance of Goal 11 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to create Sustainable Cities and Communities, voted to identify the waste management crisis as an existential risk and resolved to initiate a strategy to resolve the crisis and achieve Goal 11 of the SDGs. Vuyani Khumalo, the City Manager, commissioned a study to review the city's options for transitioning to a circular economy. The study was conducted by the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and explores previous strategies devised and implemented by the CoJ, drawing comparisons with other global cities with similar waste generation profiles. Additionally, the study examines the existing resources in the CoJ waste value chain. Separate at Source and Pay as You Throw strategies for waste sorting are analysed in the global context and specifically in relation to CoJ. The UJ study employs scenario analysis to identify optimal solutions and showcases the significance of combining multiple technologies and aligning diverse stakeholders to redirect waste from landfills. This case study is applicable to students of environmental management, urban planning, civil engineering, and project management and identifies key stakeholders in the waste value chain, procedures to perform comparative studies, and technical options for waste treatment.