On 18 September, Zimbabwe marked World Clean-up Day two days early, with the national event held at Rufaro Stadium in Mbare as part of National Clean-up Zimbabwe Month. The message from the day, as the Sunday Mail reported it, was that cleanliness has to be a daily responsibility rather than an annual event, and that households should move towards zero waste by producing less, reusing more, recycling and keeping their own surroundings clean.
That is easy to agree with and harder to do. So here is what zero waste looks like in practice in a Zimbabwean home, and why it matters more than it might seem.
Why it matters here
The Environmental Management Agency estimates that Zimbabwe produces about 1.65 million tonnes of waste a year, with plastic making up around 18 percent, according to Dialogue Earth. Food and garden waste, meanwhile, could be composted rather than dumped or burned.
Monthly national clean-up campaigns have been running since 2018, Oxpeckers notes, yet the same drains fill up with the same bottles and plastic bags. That is partly a collection problem, and partly a problem at source. Clean-up days pick waste up. Zero waste stops it being created.
EMA's own framing, in recent campaigns, has been about changing habits rather than just collecting litter. At last year's Clean-up Day, spokesperson Amkela Sidange urged people and businesses to move away from a throwaway culture towards a "take-make-reuse" model, Matebeleland Pulse reported.
Step 1: Separate at home
The single most useful change is keeping waste in at least three streams instead of one bin:
- Organic waste: vegetable peelings, fruit, eggshells, tea leaves, garden cuttings.
- Dry recyclables: plastic bottles and containers, cans, glass, cardboard and paper, kept clean and dry.
- Everything else: nappies, heavily soiled packaging, broken ceramics.
Once organic waste is out, the remaining bins stop smelling, and the recyclables stay clean enough to sell or give away.
Step 2: Compost the organics
If you have a yard, a simple compost heap or pit in a shady corner turns food and garden waste into soil for your garden within a few months. Mix wet material like peelings with dry material like leaves or shredded cardboard, keep it damp but not soggy, and turn it now and then. Keep meat, bones and oil out to avoid pests.
For flats, a closed bucket system works on a smaller scale, or you can pass organics on to someone with a garden.
Step 3: Get recyclables to people who use them
Clean PET bottles, cans, cardboard and scrap metal all have buyers in Zimbabwe. Community collectors and buy-back centres pay for sorted material. In Harare, for example, women trained through the Zimbabwe Sunshine Group, set up by the city council and EMA, were buying plastic containers from residents, including children, when Dialogue Earth reported on them in 2023.
The BinGo directory lists recycling companies and scrap and buy-back centres by city, so you can find who takes what near you.
Step 4: Cut waste before it starts
- Carry a reusable shopping bag. Thin plastic carrier bags under 30 micrometres have been banned since 2010, but they are still everywhere.
- Refuse polystyrene takeaway boxes where you can, which are also banned, and bring your own container to regular food spots.
- Buy loose fruit and vegetables at the market rather than pre-packed.
- Refill water bottles instead of buying new ones.
- Plan meals so less food spoils, which is exactly what this year's theme, From Clean Plates to Clean Cities, is getting at.
Step 5: Never burn it
Burning rubbish in the yard is common and it is harmful, especially with plastics. The smoke is the same problem Cowdray Park residents are living with from Bulawayo's burning landfill, just on a smaller scale. If collection in your area is unreliable, talk to your residents' association about a shared skip or a private collector, rather than burning.
What happens next
The next national clean-up day is a chance to try this with your street or workplace. Pick up litter on the day, but also agree on one change that reduces waste the rest of the month. If enough households separate their waste, the case for proper recycling collection in Zimbabwe's suburbs gets much stronger, and so does the business case for the recyclers who need that material.
Sources
- Zimbabwe marks World Clean-up Day with stronger call for zero waste, The Sunday Mail via PressReader
- In Zimbabwe and Malawi, women mobilise to tackle plastic waste, Dialogue Earth
- Pollution regulations flouted as Zimbabwe's plastic crisis deepens, Oxpeckers
- EMA spearheads Zimbabwe's World Clean-Up Day to combat textile and plastic pollution, Matebeleland Pulse
- World Cleanup Day, United Nations
- Smoke returns to Cowdray Park, Bulawayo24
Written by Rufaro
Plain-language guides to getting rid of anything in Zimbabwe, properly.
