Recycling Waste Material

Gully waste and Road Sweepings have proven to be a valuable resource with many materials being recovered for re-use Recovering these materials does not only offer a sustainable solution for this waste and help organisations increase their recycling ratios but also offers great economical savings.

Recently, Environment Africa (EA) in partnership with the Zimbabwe Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSDZ) facilitated the establishment of viable Waste Management Enterprises in Zimbabwe The Waste Management Enterprises project, potential waste management entrepreneurs and those who are already in the business were taken through a Community-Based Waste Management and Business Management course, which ran for three days over a period of three weeks.

Resident carrying waste for recycling.(picture from Newsday)

Due to the influx of waste pickers at designated sites like the Pomona Dumpsite, pickers are required to register with Harare City Council. The move was interpreted as a way of limiting the number of waste pickers at the dumpsite and as a way of raising revenue on the part of council.

Gerald Gwariro (32) from Hatcliffe — a suburb about 15km north of Harare’s Central Business District says waste collection has been his source of livelihood since he lost his job as a tailor some five years ago.

“I have been surviving on picking up waste material like bottle tops, empty soft drinks and beer cans, empty plastic water bottles, cardboard boxes and scrap metal. We take these to LFT. LFT in turn makes bins, baskets and bags for sale.

“The proceeds from the sale of these items pays school fees for my three siblings because our parents died of HIV four years ago,” Gwariro said.

Waste cans ready for recycling (picture from Newsday)

The course was aimed at enhancing community-based, small-scale waste management entrepreneurs’ understanding of the recycling business and enterprise development and in turn enable community members to turn waste into a saleable commodity.

Seventeen participants from different community-based waste management groups in Harare were awarded with certificates of completion of the course.

The line of business of the participants ranged from waste collection, plastic recycling, (paper recycling) hand-paper-making and waste refurbishment.

At the end of the course each participant had produced a business plan and Environment Africa with the support of RAZ, will assist the qualifying participants with start-up loans and soft loans to start or boost their enterprises.

The establishment of viable Waste Management Enterprises will contribute to the curbing of pollution problems currently being faced in Zimbabwe and divert a considerable amount of waste from the dumpsite.

“By encouraging partnerships, combining environmental welfare and conservation tasks with community empowerment, employment and alternative income generation, this initiative sets an example for community-based waste management and Public Private Community Partnerships (PPCPs).