Ohorongo Cement and Rent-A-Drum have made a seasonal pledge to set up waste disposal sites in Thomas, Erongo and Oshana regions of Namibia to reduce the amount of festive waste going to landfill.

The cement company wants to process the gift wrapping paper and packaging from the festive period to supplement its alternative fuels. “Since the beginning of the year, Ohorongo disposed of over 70 truckloads of non-recyclable material as alternative fuels along with wood chips and charcoal fines in its kiln,” a company statement said.

Jean Amaambo, Ohorongo Cement’s alternative fuel administrator, said the extra waste paper from the new disposal sites will make a huge difference to the refuse-derived fuels (RDF) that the plant can process at this time of the year.