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Dr MASIMBA Mavaza
Correspondent
Launched in 2018, Global Recycling Day, an initiative of the Global Recycling Foundation (GRF), is a movement dedicated to celebrating the importance of recycling and making the world think resource not waste.
Taking place on 18th March every year, Global Recycling Day saw events, campaigns and social media activity take place across the globe, reaching hundreds of millions of people.
This year they graced the Cop27 held in Egypt. With the recycling initiative seeing its first scientific project led by the CEO of the Pomona project Mr Dilesh Nguwaya, GRF applauded the Zimbabwean initiative.
“We all appreciate the value of recycling in preserving our precious primary resources and now we’re starting to see a new focus on the impact recycling has in helping to reverse the effects of catastrophic climate change.”
Zimbabwe through Pomona project led by Nguwaya witnessed the growth in public perception of climate change.
The Harare City Council embraced the noble idea of confronting climate change through waste recycling spearheaded by Nguwaya and the Pomona Waste Project.
It took public bashing vilification insults labelling for this project to see the end of day. Zimbabwe owes the Minister of Local Government July Moyo for his sharp thinking and resilience in the midst of insults to come out with a noble cause out of rubbish.
Public consciousness is waking up to its pivotal role in preventing climate change, most dramatically witnessed by the taking of shape of the Pomona Projects.
Minister Moyo despite having all rubbish on his support of this project being thrown at him, had a sixth sense which told him that recycling is one of those practices that we think of when considering sustainable living.
Many of us have growing concerns around climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions and the impact of our waste on the environment. Recycling has become a part of many people’s everyday lives to do our bit, especially with almost ubiquitous access to recycling bins in various areas.
Minister Moyo applied his vision and indeed the world is seeing Zimbabwe in a climate change progressive path.
The minister with the CEO of the Pomona project realised that VOCs are seriously bad for our health and need to be avoided wherever possible.
They are the Volatile Organic Chemicals in many household products and these are the waste which piled at Pomona exposing people to serious health hazards.
Minister Moyo was quick to realise that recycling saves energy and prevents extraction of raw materials, helping to combat climate change. It also helps reduce waste, and therefore pollution. Recycling reduces environmental impact as a whole, contributing to a “green” mentality and more sustainable lifestyles overall.
Combating Climate Change Through Recycling is what Pomona has brought to Zimbabwe.
The Pomona project will teach people to refurbish non-organic waste into useful items to sell, reducing pollution and providing economic opportunities and above all their core purpose is to generate power.
Pomona Project recently started the project to combat climate change through recycling, training people on how to transform trash into cash.
Nguwaya the CEO of the project and his partners have entered the world books in putting Zimbabwe on the road to combat and fight climate change through recycling, saving the world from the rubbish. Many people including city fathers saw the glass half empty on climate change.
But self-declared stubborn optimist Nguwaya and the smart thinking Minister Moyo felt positive with the world class project. Because of the Pomona project, the private sector is waking up.
Did you know that the mandate of the High Level Champions for Climate Action was created by the UN as part of the Paris Agreement?
It encompasses the waste management in fighting climate change. Zimbabwe through the Pomona project is fighting from the front.
Minister Moyo recognised that the private sector and local government have huge resources and levers to drive the change to net zero and Nguwaya being the first to have a private sector background. Knowing the community he is working with in and out has been really beneficial.”
But the private sector can’t work alone – collaboration is everything: Zimbabwe needs to stand above gossip and hatred peddled by opposition city fathers in order to achieve the best.
Based on the previous pace of progress and what was deemed possible, Nguwaya and his team felt positive about the outcome of COP27. The link between recycling and climate change has been made clear.
Recycling has been shown to lead to reduced carbon emissions and is paramount to the fight against climate change. Evidence from the Bureau of International Recycling has shown that recycling can save over 700 million tonnes in CO2 emissions every year.
Recycling helps to tackle climate change and promote sustainable economic growth due to the fact that less energy is required in the manufacturing of products using recyclable raw materials, fewer materials are incinerated saving further carbon emissions and less waste is sent to landfills meaning a decrease in greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere.
These are some of the many reasons Global Recycling Day was launched in 2018, in order to encourage the world to think ‘resource not waste’ and look after the future of our planet. And, in order to live up to climate change agreements and reduce our collective carbon footprint, the Global Recycling Foundation urges governments, organisations and individuals around the world to further invest and support the growth of recycling industries.
A study by Project Drawdown estimates that between 2020 and 2050, recycling can reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 5.5 – 6.02 gigatons6. Since recycling converts waste into new products, there’s a key connection between recycling and waste. This connection helps to support the world’s sustainability endeavours as we embrace recycled materials.
With the effort put in the Pomona project, Zimbabwe has been put on the map. The President in his wisdom has put the Pomona project as a national project.
Online Reporter