It was an exhilarating experience. The previous week Harare Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda had texted hailing The Standard for its anti-litter crusade. Interestingly, other newspapers, particularly public ones, have also picked up the fight against litterbugs. All very marrrrvelous!
I would like to emphasise the importance of bins being beautiful. The message to send around to the people should be that “bins are cool”. If the bins are ugly they negate the purpose they are supposed to serve. If a bin is an eyesore in itself, people would not wish to be associated with it. It’s an interesting observation; people throw their litter at unsightly bins instead of into them. The result is a mess.
Now that the City Fathers have taken the first step of providing bins at strategic points they must ensure two things; that the bins are emptied regularly and that they are kept in good shape. Those that have become misshapen should be replaced by new ones. This is going to be expensive, reason why our business community should lead on this one by identifying with the anti-litter campaign and providing bins regularly; they can put their signage on them.
But the success of this crusade depends on the public’s response. The bins are there to be used, not simply to decorate the motorways. But how can this message be drilled into the minds of people long used to throwing their rubbish all over the place?
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Zimbabweans have engaged in successful campaigns before. The HIV and Aids awareness campaign is one such. I can hear readers sighing and saying how could I liken the anti-litter campaign to the anti-HIV/Aids campaign! But this demonstrates how seriously we should take the litter issue. One thing that made the anti-HIV/Aids campaign a success was the totality of its thrust. It was on radio and television. It rang everywhere until our ears ached.
Campaigners went into schools and factories; messages were pasted everywhere including in buses and trains. It was total immersion! Now thanks to this, statistics show that the incidence of new HIV infection has declined considerably and continues to do so.
The same can be done about litter; there should be campaigns in schools and on factory floors, in buses and in trains until the message is drummed home.
The campaign should go further and educate the public on the different types of litter. Recently, I noticed a very disturbing trend; people are burning heaps of litter in the middle of the road or wherever they are found. The intention might be good but that is not the right thing to do. Not only does the burning pollute the air but also the resulting fumes are pregnant with gasses that have other diverse effects on the environment. We have all head about the depletion of the ozone layer due to the discharge of chloro-fluro-carbons. Burning rubbish also produces other toxic gases that can trigger asthma and irritate mucus membranes.
Litter can be separated into five categories namely, simple trash, organic, plastic, paper and metal. It is important that the public are made aware of this. Almost all litter can be recycled, hence burning should absolutely be only as a last resort
In some countries bins are properly marked to indicate which sort of litter should be placed into which bin (see illustration). This means it becomes easier for litter collectors to know exactly where they should take contents of the bins. Recyclers’ job is also made easier as they would have been saved the onerous task of extracting what they want from mixed bins.
The anti-litter campaign is now poised to go full-throttle nationwide, watch this space!
