{"id":652015,"date":"2026-06-07T16:59:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T14:59:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=652015"},"modified":"2026-06-07T17:03:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T15:03:43","slug":"small-south-african-town-where-horses-roam-free-and-residents-make-their-own-fuel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/energy\/652015-small-south-african-town-where-horses-roam-free-and-residents-make-their-own-fuel.html","title":{"rendered":"Small South African town where horses roam free and residents make their own fuel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The small town of Greyton in the Western Cape, situated at the foot of the Riviersonderend mountain range, is using biomass digesters to convert waste into fuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the Greyton Transition Town (GTT) initiative, the town has been rolling out biomass digesters in residents’ homes on a small, localised scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These can convert waste, including organic kitchen waste, garden refuse, and animal manure like cow and chicken dung, into sustainable biofuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the town’s establishment in 1854, the region was home to the Hassequas Khoikhoi tribe, which had established its kraals near the Gobos River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tribes had many thousands of sheep and cattle, which was the primary reason Ensign Schriver of the Castle of Good Hope was sent here in the 1600s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schriver was sent to barter with the tribe’s headman, Captain Stoffel Koekson, and the wealth he generated from the subsequent deals helped him move his people to Boschmanskloof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1793, the tribal lands Koekson’s people had previously inhabited were given to Dutchman Marthinus Theunissen, who built a homestead on his farm, Weltevreden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Theunissen did not remain there long due to ongoing disputes with his neighbours over boundaries and wandering cattle in Boschmanskloof and Genadendal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two wealthy brothers from the Cloete family in Constantia were among the property’s subsequent owners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1846, Englishman Herbert Vigne bought Weltevreden, where he established a freehold agricultural village in 1854.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He kept two small portions of the land for himself and formally declared the rest of the farm community land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vigne named the village “Greyton” after Sir George Grey, who was serving as the Governor of the Cape at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the town resembles a blend of Victorian-era and Cape Vernacular architecture. It is a hotspot for mountain biking and trail running, with numerous restaurants and a flourishing art scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Converting waste to biofuel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Rustic cottage in the small rural town of Greyton in the Western Cape. Photographer: Vanessa Bentley \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The town embarked on the Greyton Transition Town (GTT) project in mid-2011, aimed at transforming itself into a resilient and sustainable community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“GTT started in mid-2011 when a group of local people met to consider the challenge of increasing fuel costs and the corresponding rise in the cost of living,” the project’s management said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We saw transitioning as a means of inspiring the community of Greyton to come together to meet these challenges and to build a resilient, sustainable village.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the project included the Community Sustainable Housing Programme, through which residents were involved in the design and construction of their homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GTT’s management said the homes would be built using a self-sufficiency approach that included biomass digesters, greywater systems, renewable energy, and natural building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biomass digesters, or biodigesters, process organic kitchen waste, garden refuse, animal manure, and wastewater in a sealed, oxygen-free container.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through anaerobic digestion, bacteria break down the biodegradable materials. This happens in four phases: hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis, and lastly, methanogenesis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final stage produces a gas mixture of methane and carbon dioxide. The gas is methane-rich and combustible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, it can be piped directly into stoves for cooking, used for heating, or burned in generators to generate electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gas produced can be further refined by removing the carbon dioxide and other impurities to create renewable natural gas, which is effectively pipeline-quality methane that can fuel vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The process produces a byproduct, solid and liquid residues called “digestate”, which is nitrogen-rich and an effective organic soil fertiliser that can be used in the community’s shared gardens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Biomass Digesters convert waste to fuel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Photos of Greyton town in the Western Cape<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Photographer: Peter Titmuss \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photographer: Olga Kashubin \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photographer: Arnold Peterson \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photographer: Olga Kashubin \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photographer: Roger de la Harpe \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photographer: Vanessa Bentley \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greyton embarked on a transition project in 2011 to establish a resilient, sustainable village.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":652041,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27995],"tags":[95819,105720,60121,105721,105722,87797,88075,105723,8957],"class_list":["post-652015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-biogass","tag-biomass-digester","tag-fuel","tag-greyton","tag-greyton-transition-town","tag-methane","tag-methane-gas","tag-waste-to-fuel","tag-western-cape"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652015"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341076"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652015"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":652242,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652015\/revisions\/652242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}