Experts directory

Mrs R du Plessis

College of Agriculture & Environmental Sciences
School of Environmental Sciences
Department: Environmental Sciences
Lecturer
Tel: 011 471 2584
E-mail: dplesr@unisa.ac.za

Expertise

  • Waste Management

Fields of academic interests

Teaching Interests:

  • Agricultural Meteorology and Ecozones (SSW101-D)
  • Environmental Management for Civil Engineering (EGE401-T, EGE 401-P)
  • Environmental Management for Chemical Engineering (EMC401-T, EMC 401- P)
  • Impact management and mitigation

Research Interests:

My interest lies in waste minimization efforts and initiatives through various projects of recycling of domestic waste: institutional, community, commercial and municipal. One such an opportunity which exists in every residential garden as well as in municipalities is to recycle garden waste into an useful product compost. The environmental impact needs to be investigated to ensure that the composting does not have a detrimental effect on the immediate environment. My interest is to determine the impacts and to suggest workable mitigation measures to promote composting on a large scale in South Africa as part of the solution to the growing waste problem.

Field of Specialisation

  • Environmental Management
  • Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) 
  • Environmental Management Plan (EMP) 
  • Integrated Environmental Management (IEM) 
  • Waste minimization

Journal articles

Paper presentations

Conference proceedings:

  • Snyman, J. & du Plessis, R., 2008. No Greens To Waste : Minimising waste – Composting the organic fraction as an economically viable option.  WASTECON 2008 
  • Du Plessis, R., 2008. Changing our ways: municipal composting facilities on selected sites in the Tshwane Municipal Area.  WASTECON 2008  

Projects

Community service:

  • Linbro Park closure projects Wastetech - Shongweni Landfill site project Enviroserve-training project Rainfall harvesting in urban areas Development pressures in the Bronberg area, Gauteng