Quantitative characterization of solid wastes from small businesses in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality in South Africa

The research focused on waste materials that are generated by small businesses in the townships in and around Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) in South Africa. Surveys were conducted to quantitatively characterize waste materials from formal and informal small businesses. Waste items were identified, sorted, and measured using a weighing scale. The study found statistically significant differences in the types and composition of waste materials between various small businesses. For instance, cardboards, plastics and glasses were generated relatively more at formal businesses, while informal ones tended to generate waste materials such as tyres and organic wastes. Knowing dominant waste types from each type of business may allow for a preliminary and informed identification of industries or processes that could potentially utilize these materials as secondary raw materials. The relatively higher proportion of informal businesses that generated food wastes suggests untapped opportunities for composting them or biogas production, while the prevalence of plastics and cardboards from formal business can provide raw materials for other businesses in the local manufacturing sector. These results provide a crucial baseline for measuring the effectiveness of future waste reduction and recycling initiatives, thus enabling performance monitoring and adaptive management of waste minimization programmes in selected townships.