The memo, which was leaked to the media, provided an economic rationalisation for shipping waste off-shore, arguing that the income loss resulting from any damaging side effects would be felt less by those with less income. But despite global outrage at the time, the idea that waste – be it toxic, domestic or corporate – can be removed from sight and made someone else’s problem has not gone away.

And residents of the Cape Town suburb of Belhar, who live cheek by jowl with what their local councillor calls Belhar’s ‘Table Mountain’, otherwise known as the Bellville South Landfill Site, are fed up with the foul odours and flies. Despite long-standing community opposition and the scheduled closure of the dump for 2006, the city is running out of landfill options and has had to extend its life span until 2013.