Behavioural change key to garbage disposal-councillor
By MUKOSELA KASALWE THERE is need to embrace behaviour change in the way garbage disposal is done and ensure that only designated areas for its management are utilised, says Mandevu Constituency Ngwerere Ward 19 Councillor Adrian Banda.
Mr Banda said with the procurement of the tractor in Ngwerere Ward he warned that the Lusaka City Council (LCC) would no longer tolerate the indiscriminate dumping of garbage especially in drains and that anyone found doing so would be met with the full force of the law.
He said with the onset of the rainy season his office would closely work with the LCC and the Ward Development Committee to improve solid waste management in the area and avert disease outbreaks associated with the rainy season such as cholera, typhoid and bilharzia.
Mr Banda said this recently at the official handover of the K180, 000 tractor by Mandevu Member of Parliament Jean Kapata.
He said there was need for change of mind-set by residents in the way garbage was disposed of. He thanked Ms Kapata for her ever present help towards the ward and the various development projects being undertaken.
“It is only proper to say that I am the first councillor to have successfully purchased a tractor using Ward Development Committee funds and I am fully aware that I have set the tempo for others to emulate,” he said.
And Ms Kapata said she would lobby Government to strengthen laws and by-laws to ban the use of plastics and instead use paper bags because it was biodegradable and environment.
The lawmaker said Government through President Edgar Lungu was determined to ensure that no one was left behind in the development agenda of Zambia.
Ms Kapata said the tractor had come with economic benefits such as the community having to pay a subsidized garbage collection fee of K 20 from the previous K 40.