ZB EMPOWERS COMMUNITIES WITH RECYCLING BUSINESS
By LINDA SOKO TEMBO ZAMBIAN Breweries PLC has teamed up with Millennium Challenge Account investing up to $1.7 million in the Manja Pamodzi Project aimed at empowering the community through the recycling business.
Speaking in an interview with the Daily Nation, Zambia Breweries Project Manager Elaine Kafwimbi, said the project would help the local community especially young people create wealth through waste.
Ms Kafwimbi explained that there was so much wealth that was being thrown away that could be recycled into other finished products.
She however dispelled assertions suggesting that the brewery firm was collecting recyclable materials saying this was done under the auspices of the Manja Pamodzi project.
“There is a misconception that Zambian Breweries is collecting recyclable materials. It’s not true because what we have done was to initiate the Manja Pamodzi project,’ she explained.
“Zambian Breweries Plc and the Millennium Challenge Account have funded 100% of the operations of the Manja Pamodzi project. Since November 2015, the two organizations have put together a total funding of USD $ 1.7 million.
“This has been done at a cost to the two institutions and with no incremental profit to them. The benefits arise from the starting up of a locally established recycling project,” she said.
She further explained that the project was active in eight Lusaka Compounds namely Chawama, George, Chunga, Matero, Ng’ombe, Kalikiliki, Kalale and Chibolya.
She said the USD$1.7 million is the money that was utilised to build sites in these compounds as a way of empowering the Local community.
Ms Kafwimbi said once the collectors collected the waste from their areas they would sell the recyclables to the aggregators in those communities who would then sell the materials to the processing companies.
The Manja Pamodzi initiative is supported by Zambian Breweries and its sister companies National Breweries and Heinrich’s Syndicate. The aim of the environmental clean-up and recycling project is to minimise litter that can block drainage system and give rise to disease such as cholera and typhoid, especially during the rain season.
The collectors are identified through environmental education campaigns with the emphasis on recycling.
The collectors gather polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, cardboard and other recyclable materials from target areas in their communities.