Africa Anti-Incineration Series | Resistance in Drakenstein, South Africa

In 2012, the Drakenstein municipality signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Interwaste, a waste management company, to construct a municipal waste incinerator to address the municipalities waste issues.

The resistance to this municipal incinerator involved several key actors, this included the Drakenstein Environmental Watch (DEW), Wellington Association Against the Incinerator (WAAI), groundWork (gW), South African Waste Pickers Association (SAWPA), GAIA, community residents, vulnerable groups that
would have been affected by the project, water experts, engineers and legal clinics were just some of the agents that supported the resistance of the municipal waste incinerator.

Once faced with waste management challenges exacerbated by tourism, two communes in Hoi An, Vietnam — Cam Thanh and Cham Islands (Tan Hiep Commune) — have become the faces of Zero Waste through the collaboration of stakeholders from the government, community organizations, farmers’ associations, businesses, and tourism associations.

In 2021 we made great strides as a movement and continued to spread awareness on our calls for a just, healthy and zero waste society.

To celebrate our victories, we put together this short region review of the year 2021. We recognise that there were many more highlights to celebrate in the movement, but these are a select few that we have been closely engaging on.

GAIA US Canada’s Community Tools for Anti-Incineration Organizing resource designed to support community organizers and advocates in both new and existing incineration campaigns. The toolkit is informed by the experiences of GAIA members around the world who have mobilized their own communities and allies to fight for a world without waste-burning. 

Missoula, Montana, United States, is a scenic college town and outdoor mecca, boasting five mountain ranges, three rivers and an extensive recreational and commuter trail system. While Missoula is known for its strong passion for the outdoors, the city lags far behind on recycling, recovering only 20% of its waste. A citizen-led movement is working hard to create a waste-free future. Thanks to this citizens’ partnership with City government, the Missoula City Council passed the first Zero Waste resolution in Montana in 2016 and is working on some big improvements.

A guide on how to run zero waste events. Produced by Zero Waste France, and translated by Zero Waste Europe.

Las comunidades que enfrentan un proyecto de incineración de residuos con recuperación de energía o “waste-to-energy” que pretende instalarse en su localidad, tienen derecho a conocer todos los detalles del proyecto y sus impactos en la salud de las personas y el ambiente. Esta serie de preguntas fue diseñada para apoyar a las comunidades en el desarrollo de un rol activo con la industria y el gobierno en relación a propuestas de incineración de residuos con recuperación de energía.

Este breve documento presenta las principales razones contra la incineración de residuos. Explica porque la incineración resulta ser muy dañina tanto para la salud de las personas como para el ambiente en que vivimos. Quiere ser un instrumento de apoyo a las organizaciones y grupos que están luchando para detener la incineración de residuos en América Latina y el Caribe. Se puede reproducir cualquier parte del documento citando la fuente.

La isla de Taiwan se vio enfrentada a una crisis de residuos en la decada de los ochenta debido a la falta de espacio para expandir su capacidad de vertedero. Cuando el gobierno recurrio a la incineracion a gran escala, la oposicion de la comunidad no sólo detuvo la construccion de decenas de incineradores, sino que tambien llevo al gobierno a adoptar metas y programas para el reciclaje y la prevencion de residuos.

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