Kwekwe council ventures into waste recycling

KWEKWE City Council has brokered a deal with Zim Earth Worms Farm (ZEF), a private company which will see the local authority start recycling bio-degradable waste.

The local authority, in partnership with Zim Earth Worms Farm, has already started the construction of jati composters which will be used to recycle the waste using earthworm and converting it into fertilisers.

Earthworms are a possible backbone of a green revolution. They decompose organic waste into a bio-fertiliser called vermicompost (earthworm faeces or excreta) on the market in Zimbabwe.

It is potent enough to enable plants to produce nutritious food, without any chemical fertilisers or at reduced chemical fertiliser levels.

Because earthworms are rich in balanced protein with about 72 percent protein when dry, large quantities can be generated for animal feed creating employment.

Acting director of health, Sister Patricia Shumba said they have started the construction of the composters at the Farmers’ Market in Kwekwe city centre where there is a lot of bio-degradable waste.

“We have entered into a memorandum of understanding with the ZEF to start recycling waste using earthworms. This was after the realisation that 80 percent of waste is biodegradable and can easily be recycled into something useful instead of taking it to our dump sites,” she said.

Sister Shumba said they held a meeting with vendors at the market explaining to how the jati composter operates.

“We have already met the vendors and explained to them how this works. There is a need to raise awareness on how to separate waste at source so that farmers know where to place bio-degradable waste, where to put plastic and where to put pampers so that they can be used differently and accordingly,” she said.

Besides being an income generating project, the project also reduces costs.

“It reduces time and costs used in collecting garbage because the community will be able to separate waste at source and most of the waste will be recycled even at homesteads,” said Sister Shumba.

The programme, which was first introduced at the Farmer’s Market will be rolled out in phases.

“Our next stop will be our Mbizo Market where again we will install the jati composters before rolling out to the members of the community. The most important thing is for us to educate the ratepayers on how to separate waste, and properly getting rid of plastic and pampers so that we are able to recycle and re-use waste that can be recycled,” said Sister Shumba.

Kwekwe City Council will set up a waste recycling plant which will in the long run generate electricity from waste.

The local authority has since set aside a 50-hectare piece of land near its sewage treatment plant where the waste management and recycling plant will be located.

Zimbabwe generates about one million tonnes of bio-degradable waste every year which currently is a problem to local authorities as they lack sufficient capacity to manage it. Most of the waste is disposed of at landfills, illegal dump sites or is burnt yet 70 percent of Zimbabwean soils are sandy, prone to leaching, have low humus and are inherently infertile.

Major challenges in waste management include sewage streams due to manhole blockages and overflows, underground water contamination due to malfunctioning septic tanks, sprawling new settlements without water and sewage reticulation, uncollected garbage and illegal dump sites.