Look at your council bill and somewhere between rates and water you will find a line for refuse. Ask most people what that line actually pays for, how often their bin should be collected, or whether the amount is fair, and you will get a shrug. It turns out that is not just a lack of interest. The information is genuinely hard to find.
The Harare picture
A 2026 study published in Materials Circular Economy looked at waste management costs in Rydale Ridge Park, Harare. According to the abstract, the only part of the paper that is freely available, the researchers surveyed 273 households and interviewed 23 people including waste collectors, environmental officers and municipal officials. They found that the way costs are evaluated is inconsistent, that households do not have tools to track what they pay for waste services, and that transparency in municipal costing is limited. The result, the abstract says, is strain on household budgets and less incentive to adopt sustainable habits.
That fits a long pattern. A waste characterisation study done by the City of Harare with support from GIZ found that ageing compactors had pushed the city to collect some suburbs only every two weeks and others far less often, and that 60 percent of residents were not sure how often collection was supposed to happen at all, according to Pindula's summary of the report.
Collection has since been handed to Geo Pomona, the company behind the 2022 Pomona dumpsite deal, and in February EMA said the company's scheduled collection from households and businesses was continuing even as illegal dumping persisted. New Zimbabwe reported in March 2025 that the company would collect around 650 tonnes of refuse a day at US$40 per tonne. In July 2025, however, Mayor Mafume told the same publication that the city had paid Geo Pomona nothing and that the government was footing the bill. Combined Harare Residents Association director Reuben Akili has objected that parts of the arrangement were likely never discussed in council, which he said creates room for corruption.
The Bulawayo picture
Bulawayo's problem is less about collection, which the mayor says still happens regularly, and more about money coming in. Council finance manager Ndumiso Nkiwane told CITE's This Morning on Asakhe that the city's debtors' book stood at ZiG2.7 billion at 30 June, with domestic consumers owing ZiG1.9 billion, or 71 percent. Industry and commerce owed ZiG586 million and government departments about ZiG200 million.
Refuse is one of the services that money is meant to fund. Of the ZiG1.3 billion council had collected by mid-year, Nkiwane said, part went to solid waste management alongside rates, rentals, clinics, water and sewer. The shortfall, he explained, makes it harder to buy equipment and pay suppliers on time. Mayor David Coltart has separately said only about 65 percent of rates and bills are being paid.
At the same time, residents' groups say they cannot hold council to account on what they cannot see. The stakeholders' meeting on the Geo Pomona proposal in Bulawayo explicitly called for more transparency over refuse collection charges and for open data, CITE reports.
Why both sides are right
Councils are right that services cost money and that non-payment hurts collection. Residents are right that it is hard to pay willingly for a service when you cannot tell what you are getting for it. The two problems appear to feed each other: the Rydale Ridge Park study links limited cost transparency to strained household budgets, and Bulawayo's figures show what non-payment does to services.
What residents can actually do
The most useful example comes from Mbare. Residents there have worked through the CivActs platform since 2020, Accountability Lab Zimbabwe says, and a 2022 CivActs survey found that 51 percent of respondents said their refuse was never collected. Residents took that evidence to local authorities through community briefings, radio shows and infographics. In September 2023 Mbare was removed from Harare's list of garbage hotspots after the number of illegal dump sites fell from 81 to 20.
A few practical steps any residents' association can take:
- Ask your council for the published refuse collection timetable for your area. Harare has published one, although the version on its website dates from January 2021.
- Keep a simple log of when collection actually happens, and share it with your ward councillor.
- Ask at budget consultations how much of the refuse charge goes to collection, disposal and equipment.
- If a private operator collects in your area, ask for its schedule and a contact for missed collections.
What happens next
Bulawayo's decision on Geo Pomona could affect what residents pay, and residents' groups have asked that tariffs and fees be published before any deal is signed. In Harare, the question is who is paying for the Geo Pomona contract, and how much. In both cities, the simplest reform would be a line on the bill that says what the refuse charge buys.
Sources
- Residents owe Bulawayo council 71% of $2.7bn debtors' book, CITE
- Developing a Framework to Inform Sustainable and Cost-effective Waste Management Approaches in Harare, Zimbabwe, Materials Circular Economy (Springer)
- Residents account for 71% of Bulawayo council debt, CITE
- Harare's Geo-Pomona waste-to-energy deal sparks corruption fears, NewZimbabwe.com
- Govt footing Geo Pomona refuse collection bill, not council, Harare Mayor Mafume says, NewZimbabwe.com
- Pomona Dump deal, Pindula
- Heavy Penalties Loom for Harare Residents in New Clean-Up Crackdown, allAfrica
- A Successful Fight for Effective Waste Management: Mbare's Victory, Accountability Lab Zimbabwe
- Refuse collection timetable, City of Harare
- 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.
