As most areas rarely have refuse collected, most communities have been left to deal with the effects that a filthy environment inevitably brings.
When the Harare City Council (HCC) published a refuse collection schedule in the local papers, many must have felt relieved at the prospect of getting their litter infested areas cleaned. Unfortunately, it has come to naught as months down the line, the council has not lived up to its promise.
Councillor Musarurwa Stewart Mutizwa, chairperson of the Environment Management Committee recently admitted collecting refuse from every area in Harare was an impossible mission and would not be happening anytime soon.
“The issue of waste management is now beyond our control. Because of cash constraints, we do not see ourselves being able to take care of that anytime soon,” said Mutizwa.He said the council only had 20 refuse compactors although it needed at least 120 to collect refuse in the city.
Considering these facts then, what would you say are the chances of residents of say Mabvuku, or Highfield, getting their refuse collected consistently, if at all?
Many people will choose to get emotional over the matter and point out how the council, because it is religiously collecting the refuse fee, should deliver.
While one cannot blame people for wanting to get value for their US dollars, we need to look at the bigger picture.
The reason why Zimbabwe faced a serious cholera outbreak that killed hundreds of people in 2008 was because we chose to ignore the danger signs that our dirty homes and the sprouting dumpsites in our communities point to.
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With the scourge having resulted in many struggling with hospital fees while many had to deal with the loss of loved ones, one would think we would have learnt our lesson well.
Just recently, the country faced a typhoid outbreak that might still be claiming lives even as we speak as local doctors have since admitted to not having the statistics on how many people have died or continue to die from typhoid.
This is painful considering that these are diseases that can be prevented. Unfortunately, we never seem to learn and we can’t seem to let go the habit of taking action only when the situation gets way out of control and is difficult and expensive to contain.
Money that could be better utilised for national development often finds its way towards dealing with these diseases that have everything to do with a dirty environment. This is highly retrogressive.
Let us stop this carelessness
Zimbabwe will continue to battle with cholera, typhoid, dysentery, etc, until such a time when every single person realises that keeping the environment in which we live and work clean and healthy is everyone’s responsibility.
Litter is better managed at a local level
Recycling, although still at very infant levels in the country, has been established as one effective way of managing waste.
In fact, I believe it is one method that can see all the sectors involved benefiting because, like we have pointed out before, it does not only clean our homes and areas, it brings in money.
Litter is better managed at a household or company level as once it is carelessly disposed into the environment, it is very hard to control and often finds its way to very sensitive areas, like our water bodies.
Hence, the recycling initiative, in order to be a success, needs the contribution of everyone of us since we all generate litter, no matter how varying the quantities. We all need to understand that even after use, nothing should go to waste anymore.
Most products these days can either be reused or recycled. But before recycling can comfortably commence, garbage needs to be sorted at a household level. As such, it is no longer appropriate to mix together paper, plastic, left over foods, glass, etc, as this makes the recycling job a mammoth task, which it shouldn’t be.
It is about time we realise that the dirt that has characterised our homes, communities and the country at large will not go anywhere unless we choose to do something about it. We can no longer wait for the council to come clean after us as that might be a long wait indeed.
So unless we are prepared to deal with endless visits to the doctors, among other adverse effects, we need to all do our bit to clean up.
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