The reduction of urban litter in the stormwater drains of South Africa

Abstract

Urban litter (alternatively called trash, debris, flotsam, jetsam, floatables, gross pollutants, rubbish or solid waste) is a major problem in South Africa. It accumulates in public areas until either someone removes it, or it is transported by the wind and/or stormwater runoff into the drainage system. The current paper summarises the results of research into the control of urban litter in urban catchments, and the cost-effective removal of that portion that makes it way into separated stormwater drainage systems.

Keywords:

• Urban litter management
• Stormwater drainage systems
• Water quality management
• Source controls
• Quantity of litter
• Litter traps
• Litter removal

Acknowledgements

The information contained in these notes emanates from two projects funded by the Water Research Commission of South Africa (WRC). The first was entitled: The Removal of Floating and Suspended Materials from Streams (Armitage et al. 1998). The second was entitled The Reduction of Urban Litter in Drainage Systems through Integrated Catchment Management (Marais and Armitage 2003). The support of the WRC is gratefully acknowledged. City of Cape Town also assisted in both projects, whilst Jeffares and Green Consulting Engineers were involved in the case study described in section 6.3.