Zimpapers Logo

Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Correspondent
THE Environmental Management Agency (EMA) has called on communities to practise value addition on waste to generate income and prevent littering.

EMA’s Matabeleland North provincial manager Chipo Mpofu-Zuze said, during a media tour in Binga on Tuesday, that litter can be transformed into income generating artefacts.

She showed villagers in Binga works of art that were made from disposable waste such a plastics bags and empty beverage cans to make hats, door mats, handbags among other valuable objects.

Mpofu-Zuze said litter could be a business if properly managed.

“We urge you to practise value addition through some of the things you call litter. There are areas where people have taken advantage of litter to create artefacts that they can generate income from,” said Mpofu-Zuze.

She said EMA and local authorities cannot fight littering single handedly and urged villagers to join the fight against illegal dumping.

During the campaign some Binga women caused a stir as they refused to pick up used diapers.

They said the litter should be picked by those who disposed of it.

Some argued that they were littering because the local authority was not collecting refuse in their area.

“Diapers are a serious problem in Zimbabwe. Efforts are being made to educate people against illegal dumping. We will continue with campaigns to educate people against the practice. But if it continues we will start ticketing those doing it,” said Mpofu-Zuze.

Binga RDC executive officer for social services Enock Mugande said the increase in the number of villagers in the area was creating a waste management problem.

He said the value addition initiative needed to be exploited.

Mugande said the council did not have a refuse vehicle making it difficult to collect rubbish.