In 2000 the Rustenburg Local Municipality (RLM) acknowledged that their waste disposal site was rapidly running out of airspace and that an action-plan was to be put in place to explore the possibility of developing a new waste disposal facility for the fast growing local district.

The requirement was that the site had to be spacious enough to cater not only for the rapidly developing city, at the time, but also to accommodate the future airspace needs of the rapidly developing platinum industry in the area.

The disposal facility was developed keeping in mind the possibility of it becoming a regional waste disposal facility in the future that was to serve more than just the RLM, but also some of the surrounding other municipalities within the Bojanala Platinum District Municipality (BPDM).

Historic discussions with one of the biggest platinum mining houses in the area to explore and investigate the possible use of an ideally situated abandoned open cast mine pit needing rehabilitation and in close proximity to the centre of the city was revived.

Once the go-ahead was approved in 2001, RLM embarked on a tender process and appointed waste consultants to develop an Integrated Waste Management Strategy, which included the identification and development of a new “Regional” waste disposal facility for Rustenburg.

Twelve candidate disposal sites were identified during the site selection process. Candidate sites identified were compared and evaluated in terms of their environmental, social and economic criteria.

The Waterval Open Cast Site came out tops with the highest score and after much deliberation between all parties and other stakeholders the site was eventually earmarked for development.

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