Civil Engineering October 2022 | Vol 30 No 9

52 October 2022 Civil Engineering A first for Africa – converting unrecyclable plastic into eco-concrete S eeking out a solution to repurpose unrecyclable and/or difficult to recycle plastic packaging, Polyco PRO NPC, a Producer Responsibility Organisation in South Africa, has provided a R7 million interest-free loan to the Centre for Regenerative Design & Collaboration (CRDC) who will be using the funding to purchase machinery for its plant in Cape Town. The equipment will convert unre- cyclable and/or difficult to recycle plastic into eco-aggregate that can be used in the building and construction sector. To produce RESIN8, waste plastic is shredded and then mixed with mineral additives. The mixed material is fed through an extruder to produce RESIN8, which is then granulated into a concrete aggregate-like material. The RESIN8 granules are used as a replacement for natural aggregates in the concrete mix used in the production of a multitude of concrete products. Using RESIN8 decreases weight, increases or maintains strength, and in- creases the thermal properties of concrete bricks and blocks which adds additional environmental benefits. To test its viability as a construction aggregate, multiple concrete manufac- turers partnered with CRDC’s South African team to test RESIN8 in building blocks, maxi bricks, pavers, kerbs, chan- nels, and concrete pipes. To date, RESIN8 has been used towards the construction of 700 houses in Costa Rica, and locally in three large- scale residential buildings in Khayelitsha and about 2 000 m of roadside kerb and channels on various projects in Cape Town. The RESIN8 plant in Cape Town will be the first of its kind in Africa, and only the third plant in the world. Once fully operational in March 2023, it will be able to process 610 tonnes of plastic waste into RESIN8 every month. “The Cape Town RESIN8 plant has been designed to be scalable and we aim to increase our production to 1 120 tonnes of plastic waste per month. Our ambition is to replicate the Cape Town RESIN8 plant in a further two cities before the end of 2023,” says Abraham Avenant, CEO at CRDC South Africa.  Building blocks manufactured from RESIN8 New competency regulations for municipal workers O n 20 September 2021, Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma gazetted the Local Government: Municipal Staff Regulations which introduce standards for the recruitment and evaluation of municipal employees. The regulations, which came into effect on 1 July 2022, also include competency frameworks for various designations. The Municipal Staff Regulations are to be read with the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act (No.32 of 2000) and the Local Government: Regulations on Minimum Competency Levels, 2007 (government notice no. 493). They apply to all municipalities defined in Section 2 of the Act and all staff members of a municipality. Unless otherwise specified, the regulations do not apply to senior managers and persons participating in the national public works programme of similar schemes. The regulations provide guidance on a number of areas including staff estab- lishment, job descriptions, recruitment and appointment of staff, performance management and development, and skills development. Notably, they also provide extensive competency frameworks for mainstream occupations and career streams. These include civil engineers, technicians and technologists. The competency framework outlines the minimum requirements for knowledge and scope of work, experience, and qualification for each position across various competency levels. It also dictates the core professional, functional, public service-oriented, personal, and manage- ment/leadership competencies required. The frameworks impose some weighty requirements. For example, chief engi- neers, chief engineering technicians, and chief engineering technologists all require 10 years or more of relevant experience post registration. Similarly, principal engineers, techni- cians, and technologists require 8 years or more of relevant experience post registra- tion, while senior engineers, technicians, and technologists require 5 to 8 years of relevant experience post registration. Engineers, technicians and technologists only require 3 to 4 years of relevant experience, but civil engineers need to be eligible for registration as a Pr Eng. Graduate trainees require no experience, only a relevant qualification. To access the municipal staff regulations, visit https://www.gov.za/ documents/local-government-munic- ipal-systems-act-local-government- municipal-staff-regulations-20-sep .