What does a well-run landfill look like?

Civil rights group AfriForum set out to answer this question with a national audit of landfill and transfer sites. In February 2025, its community branches visited 169 sites across South Africa, using a checklist aligned with waste laws and licence conditions to judge whether basic safeguards were in place. Each site was scored to compile a national picture of performance.

Auditors assessed sites using 33 weighted questions totalling 25 points, then multiplied scores by four to produce a mark out of 100. A site passed only if it scored above 80 points, meaning at least 80.0% of legislated requirements were met. This threshold signalled that core controls were functioning with respect to safety, legality, and cleanliness.

The headline finding was stark. Only 38 of the 169 audited sites cleared the 80.0% bar, while 131 fell short. Gauteng and the Western Cape were the only provinces where most audited sites passed. In Gauteng, Alberton’s Platkop and The Waste Group’s Mooiplaats scored 100, with Boksburg’s Rooikraal at 98 and Springs’s Rietfontein at 96. The Western Cape produced multiple 100s, including Gansbaai, Hermanus, Stellenbosch, Vredenburg, and Gordon’s Bay transfer facility. Buffalo City’s Roundhill in the Eastern Cape also reached 100, while North West’s Mooinooi achieved 98. These sites showed that ordinary controls can add up to safer operations.

Those controls are practical, and their impact on the environment is significant. When access is regulated, the weighbridge functions, and waste is compacted and covered daily, it prevents polluted runoff and leachate from contaminating rivers and boreholes. It reduces landfill fires and toxic smoke, and it limits methane emissions that accelerate climate change. Clear rules for registered recyclers in demarcated areas further cut wind-blown plastic, pests, and disease spread, protecting nearby communities and farms. The 80.0% pass mark represents a baseline that secures these protections, and it remains achievable wherever managers follow established rules.

Well-managed landfills prove that compliance is both possible and effective. Through this lens, the gap between failing and passing sites highlights an urgent need for better governance in South Africa’s waste sector.