Waste management requires collective effort: Mavhunga

WASTE management requires collective action to avoid the spreading of diseases like cholera, Minister of State for Mashonaland Central Provincial Affairs Cde Monica Mavhunga has said.

Her sentiments come at a time when the country is battling a serious cholera epidemic which has so far claimed the lives of more than 49 people, with at least seven cases being confirmed in the province’s districts of Mazowe and Shamva.

In a speech read on her behalf by the acting director in her office, Mr Admore Shereni at the Mashonaland Central Provincial clean-up campaign launch held at Madziwa Shopping Centre in Shamva District last week, Cde Mavhunga, said communities should recycle their waste as way of reducing littering as there were innumerable benefits that are accruable from the recycling of various forms of litter.

“While by and large the cholera outbreak is connected to the use of contaminated water sources due to sewage discharge and underground seepage bacteria in faecal matter, the way we dispose of our waste also contributes to the spread of the outbreak,” she said.

“The waste that we litter and dump everywhere clogs our water reticulation and sewerage systems, resulting in endless bursts which contaminate our water systems. There are innumerable benefits that are accruable from recycling various forms of waste such as plastic , paper and metal waste. In fact, there are communities that have positively transformed their livelihoods through recycling.”

Cde Mavhunga said the mushrooming of illegal dumps at street corners and the accumulation of waste in those dumps was testimony that local authorities could not carry the burden alone.