adminPetros Zivengwa Features Writer
Littering remains a major challenge for Zimbabwe’s major cities and towns and the problem continues to grow in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare. This, however, is despite commendable efforts by the city council and the corporate sector to install litter bins at strategic points around the city.
Residents seem to ignore the bins, choosing to dump litter on the streets and pavements.
Government has also chipped in by threatening to fine “litter bugs” although this initiative has never been enforced as mountains of litter continue to grow on the streets.
The scourge has been blamed on lack of education amid calls for a vigorous campaign to educate citizens on anti-littering.
It is agreed that if the city is to attain its vision of being a world class city by 2025, efforts should be made to stimulate residents’ participation for council to achieve this goals.
Residents have complained of collapsed service provision where the authorities are failing to provide essential services such as garbage collection, water and sewer reticulation systems.
Ms Grace Kaerasora said Harare should make an effort to educate people against littering and then provide bins and empty them on time.
“Providing bins is not the solution. Residents require some education so that the council and corporate world’s efforts to clean the city succeed.
“Trash from maize cobs, banana peels, rotting vegetable matter have become an eyesore in Harare, once referred to as the Sunshine City and that shows how unschooled the people are on the need to keep the environment clean,” she said.
Mr Kudakwashe Mazivanhanga of Warren Park said it was common to see someone throwing a banana peel on the ground when there is a bin a few metres away.
“That is clear testimony that people do not take the city’s cleanliness seriously. It also shows that residents do not see the importance of using the bin. People need to be educated.
“Maybe it is in their upbringing. In their homes they were taught that someone must clean their mess and that is translating to how they deal with thrash even on the streets,” he said.
Some residents said council should not use threats against residents but inculcate a culture of anti-littering in the citizens.
“People do not believe in threats, there are no bins visible in the city, even though I want to throw my rubbish into a bin there are not enough bins in the city.
“The city has concentrated bins in town and has forgotten shopping centres and that has not done any good for city efforts to deal with litter,” James Mundende of Kuwadzana Extension said.
Fast food outlets have also been blamed for being responsible for up to a quarter of all litter found on the streets and there are calls that they should play a proactive role in anti-littering message at the point of sale.
Arnold Mhangura said it was imperative for the city council to work with these food outlets in educating their customers on the importance of throwing litter into the bins.
“It should be mandatory for all outlets to make sure they educate customers on the need to bin leftovers and packing.
“It is disheartening to note how many kaylites containers are scattered at ranks at the end of the day.
“These are coming from food outlets and they should be responsible,” he said.
Anywork Nhete complained that the city council was failing to collect rubbish on time.
“The workers from waste collection department hardly show up in many places around the city and people end up throwing litter in places convenient to them,” Nhete said.
Harare City Council spokesperson Mr Leslie Gwindi admitted that there was a need to educate the residents on the importance of keeping the city clean.
He, however, said the subsisting economic situation was behind the poor service delivery system.
“The city is unable to embark on large scale education programmes on anti-littering because of shortage of funds. We are, however, putting messages on water bills.
“We have resource constraints but we will continue conveying anti-litter messages so that residents can accept and internalise the message.
“Our greatest challenge is that residents are not co-operating or rather take too long to internalise the culture of anti-littering,” Mr Gwindi said.
Other centres across the country have also not been spared from a declining service delivery system.
Waste management has emerged as the biggest challenge hitting local authorities.
The Environment Management Authority has made it mandatory for kombis and buses operators to provide bins in their vehicles but people continue to litter while travelling because they lack knowledge.
They are also very few motorists if any who have litter bins in their vehicles.
Kudakwashe Kaonza said he was not aware that motorists were required to place litter bins in their vehicles.
“I have never travelled in a car with a litter bin but I want to admit that I litter while travelling, it is because we do not know about that. Most of the time litter invites more litter,” he said.
City councils are also accused of failing to collect rubbish and dispose it at dumping sites.
Once litter has accumulated along a road or in a community, people are more likely to keep littering in that location.
EMA has called for sustainable utilisation and protection of Zimbabwe’s environment.
The agency tasked with protecting the environment has launched various campaigns against littering and this initiative should extend to local authorities.
EMA spokesperson Mr Steady Kangata said they had ordered Harare city council to clean up the illegal dumbing areas but the challenge was that the council was not consistent in doing their job which is hindering their objectives.
“We ordered the Harare City Council to clear illegal dumping cites but the problem is that their efforts are not consistent. At the end of the day the litter problem remains.
“Their efforts need to be an ongoing process. We also urge the residents to be responsible in the way they handle their rubbish.”
Environment Africa team leader Kudzai Gwande said their organisation had also launched various programmes to curb littering.
“There is need to inculcate a culture of anti-littering in the people because the majority are not aware of the dangers of littering. We are fighting hard to make everyone aware of proper waste disposal ways,” he said.
Educating people about anti-littering is thus vital and indispensable if cleanliness in the cities is to be realised.
Harare must start educating people to ensure that they buy into the vision and own it.
Usually littering emanates from the belief that “someone else will pick it up for me.” Some people even use the justification that they are creating jobs for people who clean up.
If the city councils could make an effort to educate the masses in a formal way then the public will be better informed about littering.
Slow progress at Town House since the strategy was launched has drawn mixed feelings with residents and observers calling for a major policy shift and a radical change of attitude by residents.
There is need for a joint approach in addressing the country’s waste management challenges.
Online Reporter