Global Journal of Biology, Agriculture & Health Sciences

Abstract

THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERGRATED SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN INDEPENDENT ZIMBABWE: THE CASE OF GLENVIEW AREA 8, HARARE

Agnes Mangundu, Eric S.M.S. Makura, Manenji Mangundu & Roy Tapera

The volume of waste being generated continues to increase at a faster rate than the expansion of solid waste management measures and ability of the municipal authorities to improve on the financial and technical resources needed to parallel this growth in Harare City. This has been shown by lack of refuse trucks in Harare City; Harare city health department reported using 33 refuse trucks instead of 120 trucks. Data was gathered through observation, interviews with Glen View 8 residents and the City of Harare key informants and desk review. A total of 80 households participated in the study and 10 key informants from City of Harare. Majority (90%) of the respondents in Glenview 8 indicated that council does not come to collect waste from their houses in Glenview 8 while 10% reported once per month and this contribute to the proliferation of waste dumps around the suburb. Key informants from City Health department reported challenges such as limited resources, capacity, negative public attitudes and the unwillingness to spend on waste, fast growing urban population which surpasses provided social facilities, administrative machinery and social-political influence as key factors leading to poor management of wastes in Harare. There is no integrated solid waste management in Glenview 8 this was shown by mixed solid wastes at illegal dumping sites and in some observed bins. Mixing of solid waste made any recovery, reuse and recycling difficult and not practical. Most of the garbage from Glenview 8 is biodegradable and residents are willing to engage in waste separation and to collect waste for recycling purposes but there is no value or motivation for doing so (80% of the respondents). Research concluded that waste management problems in Harare Municipality are caused by poor enforcement of policies and by- laws. The legislations and policies exist for solid waste management but enforcement of the by-laws was found to be very weak leading to illegal waste management practices.

Published Date: 2013-05-27;