Waste management in tourist accommodation establishments in King Sabata Dalindyebo local municipality coastal areas in the Eastern Cape

Abstract

The study objectives were to identify the waste management strategies implemented in tourist accommodation establishments in Coffee Bay and Hole-in-the-Wall in Mqanduli coastal areas in the Eastern Cape; to assess the effectiveness of recycling initiatives in these accommodation establishments and to identify waste management practices as compared to policies and legislation. The study population was n=150, four questionnaires and checklists were used as data collection tool in accommodation establishments. The data was collected by the use of questionnaires and walkthrough observations using checklists. Each establishment was classified into four groups. The types of waste generated in all the different participants were: plastics (100%), wet waste (71.4), cardboards (33.3%), cans (33.3%), Paper (76.2%), Glass 28.6 % and Garden waste (23.8%). According to the data collected from the participants of different departments waste separation before disposal was as follows, managers (52 .4%), kitchen staff (15.4 %) and gardens (73.4%) separated waste before disposal. Recycling was mostly done in the garden which was mainly composting and by managers which was mainly cardboard and a small percentage of cans and tins. The results report the following trend on recycling on site: Managers (52.4%), gardeners (84.2%), cleaners and kitchen staff (31.1%) Tourist’s accommodation establishments (81%) did not have a waste management policy on site, (19%) claimed to have trained their staff on waste management whilst the majority was not trained on waste management. Knowledge of legislation was observed to be very less although some legislation was known. Waste management in tourist accommodation establishment needed more development and provision of a local recycling site is urgently needed.