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Judith Phiri, Features Reporter
Resident participation in waste management has been viewed as one of the essential strategies for overcoming waste problems effectively. In many developing countries, local authorities have been struggling to encourage resident involvement in the waste management process which has seen participation rates low.
Zimbabwe requires a system that can encourage residents to participate effectively and sustainably in waste management. According to the Zimbabwe Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan of 2014, the country generates about 1,65 million tonnes of waste annually. In an interview, Environmental Management Agency (EMA) education and publicity manager, Ms Amkela Sidange said if the country continues to generate the stated waste annually, projections are that urban areas will be generating about two million tonnes of waste a year by 2030.
“Zimbabweans need to pool resources and share ideas on how to address challenges relating to solid waste management which has become a perennial headache. “The country generates an estimated 1,65 million tonnes of waste annually and 90 percent of the waste is either reusable, recyclable or biodegradable, meaning only 10 percent of waste generated in the country is destined for land-filling,” said Ms Sidange.
She said residents’ participation was key in waste management processes as community involvement is a game changer in both waste and environment management. Ms Sidange said community involvement gives ownership of any intervention taken on addressing waste management issues.
“Residents’ participation also builds mindset change in the communities and when we have more community participation, we know that whatever intervention we will be suggesting is going to work because they’re the owners of the environment they’re in,” she added.
To tackle waste management at national level, President Mnangagwa in 2018 launched the national clean-up programme, a first of its kind to be done by the Head of State and to be followed with detailed discipline where every first Friday of the month is dedicated to ensuring that the environment is clean. The initiative, which has been religiously followed, is meant to boost and promote a culture of increased cleanliness across the country with corporates encouraged to venture into recycling initiatives to derive economic value from waste.
Among other key initiatives, the First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa, who is a patron of the environment, has time and again urged communities to venture into green business and facilitate the creation of a green economy by recycling waste and converting it into feedstock for income-generating projects. She has said recycling is an important pillar for achieving Vision 2030, while creating treasure from waste and turning waste into wealth through upholding the principles of producing, reusing and recycling.
Recently officiating at the World Environment Day, which is observed every year on 5 June, Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Permanent Secretary, Ambassador Raphael Faranisi said there was a need to urgently find solutions to beat plastic pollution. Zimbabwe generates more than 300 000 tonnes of plastic waste every year and a significant proportion of it is dumped onto the streets or open areas, clogging sewers, causing sewer lines to burst and spill sewage into the environment.
“The purpose of this commemoration is to highlight to the nation the importance of the environment to human well-being. This day was designated based on the recognition of the numerous environmental challenges confronting the world and in particular our African continent.
“There is an urgent need globally and locally to address the threat of plastic pollution, and the only way we can do so is through collaboration and engaging to find innovative ways to stop plastic pollution.”
He said the Government was stepping up efforts to push Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and create a circular economy which reduces, reuses and recycles plastic more sustainably. The Permanent Secretary said his ministry will work to enhance circularity by promoting more sustainable consumption and production practices across the entire plastic value chain as a key solution in addressing plastic pollution.
“Let us take an oath to preserve natural capital and treat it with respect and restore degraded ecosystems. And let us be inspired by President Mnangagwa’s words, ‘Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo/Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabaninilo.’ It is only us who can prevent plastic pollution,” he added.
This year, World Environment Day ran under the theme, “Solutions to Plastic Pollution”, which highlighted a key global problem affecting both marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Earlier this year, Bulawayo Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Judith Ncube described the city as a mess. This prompted the identification of 43 waste hotspots in the Central Business District (CBD) by the Bulawayo City Council (BCC), while there were calls to join hands to keep Bulawayo clean.
Since then, the local authority together with the office of the Bulawayo Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry and EMA embarked on a massive clean-up campaign targeting the 43 waste hotspots in the city, where five of these were singled out as major ones. The BCC has worked on the implementation of a number of strategies to address solid waste management in the CBD, that include stricter enforcement of vending by-laws, conducting regular clean-up campaigns, night-time collection, implementing integrated solid waste management and education and awareness on waste reduction, reuse and recycling.
Among other local authorities, the Hwange Local Board (HLB) has also called on residents to utilise part of the waste generated at their households in a bid to reduce littering in communities. HLB Acting Town Secretary, Mr Paulos Mabhureni told Sunday News that there was a need for residents to complement the local authority’s efforts of keeping the environment clean.
“As a local authority, we are mandated to provide community and social services, and refuse (waste) collection is one such service. However, due to a myriad of challenges, chief among them being the constant breakdown of our refuse compactor and sometimes due to unavailability of fuel, we have not always been able to collect refuse as per schedule.
“Our collection efficiency has not been as we would have liked it to be, thus it is very difficult for us to measure precisely the residents’ participation in solid waste management at the moment. We appreciate that Council is supposed to collect refuse, but there’s a need too for residents to embrace integrated solid waste management through practicing the concept of reducing, reusing and recycling waste.”
He said everyone has a right to a clean environment as enshrined in the Environmental Management Act, the Public Health Act and in the Constitution of Zimbabwe, however, there were cases where some residents tend to violate their rights by dumping litter at undesignated areas. Mr Mabhureni said modern trends demand the sustainable management of solid waste through waste minimisation, material recovery, full collection and sanitary disposal of waste.
“We’ve been encouraging residents to embrace the RRR (reducing, reusing and recycling) concept through our Housing, Health and Community Services’ Department, as well as through various other mediums of communication, which include social media platforms.
“Not all waste should be discarded, so as to reduce the amount needed to be sent to landfills, as well as allowing products to be used to their fullest extent,” he added.
Environmentalist, Mr Dingaan Ndlovu said an educational setting for residents was crucial to improving waste management participation by cultivating key intrinsic factors with support from extrinsic factors that lead to changing behaviour. He said the six critical types of knowledge include technical experience, waste management performance knowledge, perception of benefits, environmental awareness, understanding of individual and social responsibility, and understanding the social norms and regulations. The five intrinsic factors in the emotional domain include environmental efficacy, motivation, personal moral norms, perceived behavioural control, and attitude toward waste management.
“All the critical determinant factors, including intrinsic and extrinsic factors, should support each other to improve residents’ behaviour, leading to sustainable participation. Relevance of educational content to the residents is crucial to ensure educational intervention effectiveness. With full support from the antecedent factors, waste management behaviour can be nurtured sustainably, significantly increasing the participation rate. Combining extrinsic and intrinsic factors is recommended to ensure the effectiveness of the improvement of resident participation,” he said.
According to the World Bank, the world generates 2,01 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, with at least 33 percent of it not managed in an environmentally safe manner. Global waste is expected to grow to 3,40 billion tonnes by 2050, more than double the population growth over the same period.
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