Harare proposes underground bins
Harare City Council (HCC) is proposing a $300 000 underground bin project as a way of improving the face of the city following poor refuse collection.
According to director of works Phillip Pfukwa, council would enter into a deal with local company Probin for the project.
Pfukwa said Probin had already installed a prototype underground bin along Jason Moyo, with plans to roll out more once the Memorandum of Agreement has been set.
“The total cost of the bin and installation was $400 per unit and the proposal was to install 1 800 bins in the Central Business District.
“The whole project would cost $328 000 and Probin said they had the capacity to install more bins if needed,” Pfukwa said.
The director of works said the project with Probin is proposed to last for five years, with the contractor in charge of maintaining the equipment, while council will empty the bins when the need arises.
He said plans were also underway to have Probin develop a prototype underground skip bin, once the locations and production modalities had been agreed upon.
HCC has 47 refuse collection trucks that service each of Harare’s wards, however, only 10 are currently in working condition leaving residents to deal with their own garbage.
In most residential suburbs and some parts of the city centre, mounds of garbage are being set alight to reduce the heaps.
Last year, mayor Bernard Manyenyeni lamented how the city had gone for four weeks without collecting garbage due to lack of fuel.
Manyenyeni said until council ignored unimportant issues such as paying overtime allowances, service delivery would continue to suffer.
“If we don’t fix things right, we will have diseases. People need to wake up to the reality that our priorities are not aligned,” Manyenyeni said.
The Environmental Management Agency (Ema) said each local authority is encouraged to make and develop a system that is in line with their waste scenario and available stakeholders.
Ema said the waste management programme should provide mechanisms, systems and procedures for giving effect to every stakeholder’s obligations in terms of legal frameworks, local people’s norms and standards of proper waste management.
“Most cities, towns and growth points are characterised by litter and illegal solid waste dumps on street corners and along sanitary lanes. According to Practical Action Southern Africa (2006), more than 2,5 million tonnes of household and industrial waste are produced per annum in urban areas across Zimbabwe,” Ema said.
BY Helen Kadirire
