Six years after first meeting for Landfill 2007 at the Misty Hills Country Hotel, Muldersdrift, Gauteng, waste management and geosynthetic industry experts have again gathered, this time under the theme “The Effective Management of the Residues of Modern Civilisation” for the Landfill 2013 Conference, which launched on Wednesday 16 October 2013.

The Landfill Conference is a biennial conference, which takes place every alternate year to the IWMSA WasteCon Conference, the next which is scheduled for 6 to 10 October 2014 at the Lord Charles Hotel in the Western Cape. Landfill 2009 took place in Cape Town and Landfill 2011 in Durban.

“This theme stems from the increasing application of existing knowledge and expertise in the general and hazardous waste fields to the new fields of Coal Combustion Residues (CCR) and mine waste Tailings Storage Facilities (TSF),” explained Landfill 2013 Chairman, Jonathan Shamrock, on welcoming the attendants to the two-day Conference, which is to be followed by a 1 day Geosynthetic Barriers Short Course on Friday, 18 October 2013.

The Landfills 2013 Conference is being hosted by the Landfill Interest Group of the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa (IWMSA) Central Branch, in association with the Geosynthetic Interest Group of South Africa (GIGSA).

“Being co-hosted by the Landfill Interest Group of the IWMSA’s Central Branch and the GIGSA ensures participation of both materials and design experts and the landfill owners and operators. It is likely that, when considering the changing landscape of waste management in South Africa and its impact on landfill management, lively debates will continue beyond the Conference. This is exactly what Landfill 2013 is all about,” said IWMSA President, Dr Suzan Oelofse.

“The standard containment barrier designs contained in the National Norms and Standards for the Disposal of Waste to Landfill, promulgated on 23 August 2013, require geosynthetic barriers in Class A, Class B and Class C landfills. With these recent changes in requirements, geosynthetics are set to become an integral part of almost all landfills in South Africa,” said GIGSA President, Riva Nortjé.