Refuse collection set to improve

REFUSE collection is set to improve in Harare after the City Council signed a deal with a private company Clean City Africa in a move expected to put an end the scourge of erratic garbage collection.

The city has partnered Clean City Africa, a subsidiary of Cassava Smartech, in a deal that will see the two organisations jointly working in improving service delivery in Harare through refuse collections, repair and maintenance of the council’s refuse trucks as well as clearing of illegal dumpsites. Clean City Africa will also assist council in holding joint waste management awareness campaigns, among other initiatives.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Clean City Africa chief executive, Mr Lovemore Nyatsine, said waste management had become a major public health and environmental concern.

“At Clean City we believe that addressing such challenges in our society requires a collaborative approach and effort from all of us — the private sector, local governments, residents and everyone — because at the end of the day, we are all affected by the adverse health and environmental effects of uncollected refuse and the breakdown of infrastructure, which gives rise to diseases and other perils,”said Mr Nyatsine.

Harare Mayor Councillor Herbert Gomba hailed the partnership between Clean City and Harare City as the answer to residents’ outcry unreliable garbage collection. He said the partnership is earmarked to reduce the outbreak of diseases such as typhoid and cholera. “This partnership will contribute to a clean and healthy city for our residents and it will also help create employment and grow the economy of the city,” said the Mayor.

To date Clean City has set up material recovery centres in some suburbs where well-known dumpsites and blocked drains that had become a health hazard have been decommissioned.

Anti-litter monitors have also been deployed to several suburbs to clean the environment and educate the community on dangers of anti-littering.

There had been concerns that the deal will result in double-billing of rate payers, but Harare City and Clean City have dismissed the suggestions saying there will be no change to the billing system.