EMA donates tricycles

Blessings Chidakwa in Kadoma
The Environmental Management Agency has donated tricycles and pushcarts to Kadoma community organisations partnering the local authority in waste collection and recycling.

EMA’s Kadoma district publicity and information officer, Mr Knowledge Kabesa, said the donation would help the organisations complement the city in refuse collection and management.

EMA donated three tricycles, one push- cart and a billboard.

“This programme and project will help our local authority to limit the number of trips to collect waste and dump it at the landfill site,” said Mr Kabesa.

“We believe that the things we donated here will take them some way in terms of mobility and transportation of their wares in the local area. The billboard will serve to inform people on the stakeholders involved and identify their premises.”

He said the move was aimed at fighting littering in all the identified hotspots that generate large volumes of waste including shops such as Metro Peech, TM, Spar, Kadoma Hotel and Conference Centre.

The organisations collect waste from a number of sites in the city and EMA appealed to more stakeholders to partner them.

Kadoma Mayor Councillor Action Nyamukondiwa said the donation was timely.

“This will keep our city clean, we are very lucky that we don’t have an outbreak of cholera in the cty and we would like to ensure residents continue to access safe water while we attend to sewer blockages,” he said.

Community-based organisations representative Mr Kanashe Murima said the waste collection project was proving to be a lucrative venture and the donated equipment would help increase efficiency.

“We realise about $600 per trip from collection of waste mostly plastics including empty pets and maheu containers. Super Chibuku containers are bought at $0,12 per kg, Mazoe containers cost $0,15, clear plastic wrapping $0.45 while maheu containers are more profitable at $0,90 per kg,” he said.

Metro Peech branch manager Mr Richard Kazingizi welcomed the initiative by the organisations saying it would make waste management easier.

“At Metro Peech they are collecting waste three times a week compared to once or never when it was only being done by council. Complaints were the order of the day but now the situation has changed,” he said.