Opportunities for value addition to selected Western Cape organic waste streams

The report identifies significant volumes of organic waste from dairies, piggeries, poultry farms, and abattoirs in the Western Cape, noting that most are currently underutilised or disposed of via landfill and burial. It highlights anaerobic digestion and composting as primary value-addition opportunities, while noting regulatory hurdles regarding fertiliser sales and strict landfill requirements for animal carcasses. The document provides a directory of waste providers and technology partners to facilitate business-matching.

• Annual manure production in the Western Cape is estimated at 370,000 tonnes from poultry, 170,000 tonnes from piggeries, and between 6,000,000 and 10,000,000 tonnes from cattle.
• Abattoir waste generation in the Western Cape includes approximately 24,000 tonnes of red meat waste per annum (22,000 tonnes of by-products and 2,000 tonnes of waste) and 75,000 tonnes of poultry waste from condemned slaughters.
• Over 60% of sampled abattoirs in the Western Cape do not add value to their waste, instead relying on on-farm burial or waste disposal facilities.
• Anaerobic digestion is considered an infant industry in South Africa, with adoption slowed by a lack of technical skills, complex business cases for variable feedstocks, and limited awareness.
• Regulatory restrictions on the sale of packaged compost as fertiliser lead many producers to sell their product as unpackaged 'mulch' to avoid the need for registration and authorization.
• Strict national regulations require non-infectious animal carcasses to be disposed of at specific Class B or G:L:B+ waste disposal facilities; currently, Vissershok is the only landfill in the Western Cape meeting these requirements, making transport costs prohibitive for many.

APA

Gogela, U., van Vuuren, P. F. J., & Pineo, C. (2017). Opportunities for value addition to selected Western Cape organic waste streams. GreenCape. https://greencape.co.za/assets/Uploads/BioValSA-Livestock-Opp.pdf

Chicago

Gogela, Usisipho, Pieter Frederik Janse van Vuuren, and Cathy Pineo. Opportunities for value addition to selected Western Cape organic waste streams. GreenCape, 2017. https://greencape.co.za/assets/Uploads/BioValSA-Livestock-Opp.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Gogela |first1=Usisipho |last2=van Vuuren |first2=Pieter Frederik Janse |last3=Pineo |first3=Cathy |title=Opportunities for value addition to selected Western Cape organic waste streams |publisher=GreenCape |date=July 2017 |url=https://greencape.co.za/assets/Uploads/BioValSA-Livestock-Opp.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gogela2017opportunities, author = {Gogela, Usisipho and van Vuuren, Pieter Frederik Janse and Pineo, Cathy}, title = {{Opportunities for value addition to selected Western Cape organic waste streams}}, institution = {GreenCape}, year = {2017}, month = jul, url = {https://greencape.co.za/assets/Uploads/BioValSA-Livestock-Opp.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }