In his State of the City Address 2015 on 6 May 2015, Executive Mayor Cll. Parks Tau announced that the City of Johannesburg “will be converting most of the 250 000 tonnes of rubble collected from illegal dump sites into a new form of stone paper.” This approach will unlock value in this form of waste and subsidize the cost of removing it.

Blue Economy

The City of Johannesburg is committed to investing in a “blue economy”, and recognizes that this often goes hand in hand with serious investment in technology.  A number of projects already being investigated will enable Johannesburg to assume a leadership role in a new wave of thinking about sustainable economic development that is currently catching the imagination of global civil society and communities, according to a press release issued by the city in January.

The city’s “green initiatives” are well-known, including investments in solar heating, photovoltaic panels, the production of biofuels and the conversion of the vehicle fleet to run on such energy sources.

However, the city is equally aware that the transition to renewable energy is often expensive and requires either huge capital investments or subsidies to consumers who want to make the switch.

A high-level team from the Zero Emissions Research and Initiative (ZERI) programme led by Belgian Economist, Prof Gunter Pauli, met with the City’s leadership in October and visited a number of sites and projects which have the potential to support Blue Economy activities.

Stone Paper

Stone paper is touted as a better alternative to pulp-based paper, as it does not use trees, water, chlorine, acids or petroleum in its manufacture. It is primarily made from calcium carbonate, one of the most common substances on the planet. The calcium carbonate is ground into a fine powder and mixed together with a small amount of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) to create a paper-substitute that is quickly growing in popularity.

The city has been investigating the establishment of a stone paper factory to utilize the contents of tailing dams at mine dumps to produce this unique product which is increasingly used for stationary, magazines, posters, packaging and bags. There are a number of tailing dams across the city and the project has the potential to attract investment from mining companies who want to mitigate the impact of their activities on the environment.