Big events keep Victoria Falls litter taskforce busy

WHILE the streets of Victoria Falls and major public spaces are generally clean, there are concerns about the reckless dumping of litter in secluded areas including in the bush.

Victoria Falls is generally the cleanest city in Zimbabwe through the efforts of the Pristine Victoria Falls Society (PVFS).

The latest discovery of pockets of litter in the bush especially after big events and conferences has irked environmentalists in the tourism capital.

The observation is that conference delegates and some tourists sometimes prefer to relax in secluded areas where they leave empty beer and wine bottles, various kinds of plastic waste and food packages, among others.

Since the Econet Victoria Falls Marathon, which attracted about 7 000 people including runners and fans a week ago, the PVFS has been filling an average 50 to 60 bags of litter daily.

PVFS was formed almost three years ago by stakeholders and residents in Victoria Falls. Led by a committee made up of individuals representing different organisations within Victoria Falls, the PVFS quickly gained momentum as more and more stakeholders and individuals took the pledge to ensure Victoria Falls is a pristine city.

The initiative seeks to maintain the city in its pristine state by picking up litter daily and organisations have adopted streets that they clean daily.

A task force was formed to spearhead all activities and provide an enforcement vehicle.

The task force is composed of PVFS, which is largely made up of tourism players, Environmental Management Authority (EMA), Victoria Falls City Council and police.

As the city prepares to host the first United Nations Tourism Regional Forum on Gastronomy Forum for Africa next week, PVFS has intensified cleaning activities.

The Forum starts on Friday and ends on Sunday and is meant to celebrate Zimbabwean gastronomy and promote the country’s traditional culinary heritage and culture.

A UN Tourism team inspected the facilities in May and was impressed by the cleanliness of the city.

Zimbabwe was selected to host the inaugural forum in Victoria Falls, making the destination a leader in gastronomy and already organisers have identified areas for excursions and village tourism visits as well as some leisure activities for visitors.

PVFS campaign manager, Mr Douglas Musiringofa appealed to conference and event organisers to invest in environment management to keep the city clean.

He noted that some organisers concentrate on cleaning public areas when their delegates would have littered secluded places.

“We have noted a mistake where events planners clean along roads yet some of their visitors drive in the bush where they leave litter, which we are finding now as we clean. Companies should also take it upon themselves to carry bin liners around so that if they encounter such litter they pick it up,” said Mr Musiringofa.

“As we speak, we are overwhelmed by waste, not from people in Victoria Falls but from visitors hence we have been trying to do firefighting with our small team. We have had a week of thorough cleaning. Since the marathon, we are collecting 50 to 60 bags per day on average from our targeted areas.”

Mr Musiringofa said PVFS was battling to clean dirty points around the city especially between Mkhosana turn-off and Sprayview, along Livingstone Way, Courtney Selous, BB7, the Aerodrome and an area near the council’s water works.

The task force conducts awareness campaigns on waste management and environmental issues as well as enforces the law by issuing out orders and tickets to offenders through its routine operations.

Poor waste management is one of the biggest headaches for many urban areas as citizens continue to disregard the by-laws by illegally dumping litter.

Victoria Falls is rated as one of the cleanest urban areas in the country.

—@ncubeleon