If you have ever walked the length of a Harare or Bulawayo street looking for somewhere to throw away a drinks bottle, the idea behind the Presidential Bins Scheme will make immediate sense. Government says it wants to make sure nobody has an excuse to drop litter on the ground. What is much less clear, so far, is how it will work.
Here is what has actually been said on the record, and what anyone running a business, a residents' association or a waste company will want to know next.
What was announced
The scheme was unveiled by Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe on 10 September, at a stakeholder meeting in Bulawayo where he also directed the city council to strike a deal with Geo Pomona over the Ngozi Mine landfill, CITE reports.
Garwe described it as a programme started by the President, in which corporate companies would provide bins for urban communities, with Geo Pomona "topping that initiative". The aim, as he put it, is that there will be no shortage of bins for anyone tempted to throw litter everywhere, and he asked residents to respect the bins "as home for litter".
CITE, reporting the Bulawayo council's response, said the minister had proposed the scheme to improve waste collection and disposal in Bulawayo and other urban areas, with Geo Pomona playing a leading role.
That is, at the time of writing, most of what is on the public record.
What it builds on
Geo Pomona has already rolled out equipment in Harare under its arrangement with the city. When its sorting plant at the Pomona site was commissioned in June 2025, the Herald reported that 45 refuse collection trucks, a mix of compactors and tippers, had been unveiled, and that the company's skip bins were expected to reach 2,500 by the end of that July. The same report said the company had cleared most of Harare's illegal dumpsites since February 2025 and planned door-to-door collection.
The bins scheme looks like an attempt to take a version of that model national, with the cost of the bins themselves carried by the private sector rather than councils.
The questions still open
Nothing published so far answers the questions that decide whether a bin programme works or becomes another row of overflowing drums.
Who empties them? A bin is only useful if it is emptied on schedule. Bulawayo's mayor, David Coltart, has pointed out that his city's cleansing department still collects waste regularly, and that Bulawayo does not share the collection problem Harare had. Whether the new bins will be serviced by councils, by Geo Pomona, or by the sponsoring companies has not been spelled out.
Who pays for collection? Supplying a bin is a one-off cost. Emptying it is a cost every week, forever. If collection is folded into a wider Geo Pomona contract, a residents' meeting in Bulawayo has already heard calls for any fees and tariffs to be made public before the city commits.
Which companies, and what do they get? Corporate sponsorship usually means branding. That can work well, as it has for sponsored bins in many cities, but people will want to know which companies are involved and whether there is any link to procurement elsewhere.
Is it separated waste? A single bin for everything is easy to roll out. Separate bins for recyclables are what recyclers and buy-back centres actually need. There is no word yet on whether the scheme includes separation.
Where do they go first? CBDs, markets, bus termini and high-density suburbs all have a strong claim. No roll-out plan has been published.
Why it matters
Zimbabwe's towns do not only have a littering problem, they have a collection problem, and each makes the other worse. Bins without reliable collection turn into dumps. Collection without enough bins means rubbish goes on the ground. A scheme that gets both right, and gives recyclers access to cleaner streams of plastic, glass and metal, would be a real step forward, and would fit neatly alongside the vending clean-ups under Operation Chenesa.
A scheme that delivers branded bins and nothing else would be a photo opportunity.
What to watch
The details are likely to come through the Geo Pomona discussions in Bulawayo, where council has asked for a draft memorandum of understanding and the mayor has said residents must be able to see it. If you run a waste or recycling business and want to be part of how the scheme rolls out in your town, the draft MOU and any council tenders that follow are where to look. BinGo will update this piece as details are published.
Sources
- Govt taps Geo Pomona to tackle Bulawayo waste crisis, CITE
- Bulawayo council wants Geo Pomona MOU before considering deal, Zimbabwe Situation / CITE
- Transforming waste into energy: Launch of Pomona Sorting Plant, The Herald
- Council unable to fund Ngozi Mine waste plant, Coltart says, CITE
- MP challenges Geo Pomona deal for Bulawayo waste management, CITE
Written by Rufaro
Plain-language guides to getting rid of anything in Zimbabwe, properly.
