Councillor Musarurwa Stewart Mutizwa, who sits on the Environmental Management Committee, told The Zimbabwean that vendors were wantonly littering the streets at night, taking advantage of the absence of municipal police.
“At one time, Council made a resolution to introduce three shifts for municipal officers but we realised that we did not have the financial capacity for this. We then agreed on two shifts as a way of dealing with the littering vendors,” said Mutizwa.
He added that council was aware that vendors were increasingly resorting to doing business after hours as a way of evading law enforcers.
“Waste management has gone beyond our control and the problem is not limited to Harare. The only way to deal with this is for the corporate world to come on board and assist us through the recycling of waste products,” he said.
Harare faces an acute shortage of compacters for waste collection. It has 20 and needs 100 more.
Masimba Wilson Matimba from the Zimbabwe National Recycling Programme urged the adoption of effective recycling methods as a way to ensure minimal littering.
“Europe realised a turnover of $238 billion in 2008 from recyclables and China imported waste worth $236 million the same year,” he said.
Post published in: News