The only sustainable solution to solid waste management problems for Zimbabwe’s cities and towns

Simon Bere

Zimbabwe’s cities and towns are facing solid waste management problems to different degrees, with Harare City being the most affected to an extent that the Government declared a state of disaster in the city in terms of solid waste management.

The declaration of a state of disaster has led to the government temporarily intervening by being directly involved in solid waste removal in the city, mainly through a campaign called Operation Chenesa Harare. Whereas the situation in others of Zimbabwe’s cities and towns is not as bad as in Harare, the situation in those towns and cities is predicted to worsen into the future, unless urgent and sustained action is taken to change how the cities and towns manage their solid waste.

The World Bank, for example, projects the solid waste management situation in Africa South of the Sahara to be worst in world by 2050, driven by rapid urbanisation and increase on population without sustainable solid waste management models.

Many people, including some of those in charge of solid waste management in Zimbabwe’s cities and towns believe that lack of financial resources is the core reason for their solid waste management challenges.

So they believe that to solve their problems all they need are financial resources especially to purchase refuse collection and disposal vehicles and equipment. This view is not, however, peculiar to Zimbabwean city and town managers; it is the predominant belief in the overwhelming majority of city and town managers in Africa and other low and medium income countries.

Whereas financial constraints do have an impact on the ability of a city, town or growth point to manage its worst sustainably; lake of adequate financial resources is only a secondary and not the primary cause. The root cause of solid waste management challenges faced by Zimbabwe’s cities, towns and growth points is the linear, refuse collection model that they are using.

This refuse collection and disposal model was abandoned around 40 years ago in most high income countries after realising that the model was not sustainable. In general the refuse collection and disposal model uses a very simple process which is as follows;

1. Generate Waste
2. Store the waste in some receptacle (litter bins, skip bins and so on.)
3. Collect the stored waste, transport it and dispose it somewhere with or without postdisposal management.

Said differently, most cities, towns, and growth points do not do solid waste management but use refuse collection and disposal model. A refuse collection and disposal model is not a sustainable solution for dealing with solid waste management in cities, towns and growth points. When cities, towns and growth points stick to the refuse collection and disposal model; they perpetuate the problem and allow it to get worse into the future, making it even more difficult to solve the problem in the future.

Integrated solid waste management is the only known sustainable solid waste management solution for cities and towns around the world including Zimbabwe. As far as the late 90s, the Government of Zimbabwe had already foreseen the country’s future solid waste management challenges and started steering the country away from refuse collection and development towards integrated solid waste management. The then Ministry of Environment produced the country’s integrated solid waste management strategy to replace the refuse collection and disposal approach.

In 2014, the Government also developed and launched and national integrated solid waste management strategy. The purpose of the strategy was to guide Zimbabwe’s cities and towns so that they could change from refuse collection and disposal to integrated solid waste management.

Whereas Integrated Solid Waste Management is the Government of Zimbabwe’s preferred solid waste management approach, the cities, towns and growth points that directly handle solid waste management issues have not responded as quickly to the Government’s call.

This means that the cities and towns are still using the unsustainable refuse collection model. This lack of transition from refuse collection to integrated solid waste management is the reason why solid waste management remains a growing challenge in Zimbabwe’s cities and towns. Moving from refuse collection to integrated solid waste management is a process. It cannot be done overnight through a haphazard approach.

The first step is waste characterisation, which is determining the types and quantities of waste that are generated within the city. Waste characterisation allows a city, town or growth point to make waste management decisions based on facts.

The second step is developing an integrated solid waste management strategic plan for the city, town or growth point. In Zimbabwe, only three urban areas (Harare, Gweru, Rusape and Kariba) have conducted waste characterisation studies and have developed integrated solid waste management strategic plans. Kariba has gone further with the early phase implementation of its integrated solid waste management strategic plan, while implementation progress in the remaining three urban areas is lagging.

Given that integrated solid waste management is Government policy, it is important to know why Zimbabwe’s cities, towns and growth points are not following through by adopting the policy and translating it into practical action especially given that it is the only known sustainable solid waste management solution known. Government, on the other hand, may also need to move further and make it a law that all cities, towns and growth points shift from refuse collection and disposal to integrated solid waste management.

Simon Bere is a geoscientist, environmental engineer and integrated solid waste management expert, with practical experience in helping countries, cities and towns to transition from refuse collection and disposal to integrated solid waste management operations. Apart from his general strategic and technical advisory work, Simon Bere was the GIZ lead consultant in supporting Zimbabwe’s four urban areas of Harare, Gweru, Kariba and Rusa in conducting waste characterisation projects and developing their integrated solid waste management strategic plans.

He can be contacted [email protected] or +263-77-444-74-38