JUST IN: Govt expands national clean-up program to rural areas – Minister Minister Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu

Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau  

THE Government has expanded the National Clean-Up programme to cover rural service centres and growth points to promote the sustainable management of waste countrywide.

The Minister of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Mangaliso Ndlovu made the revelation while leading the National Clean-Up programme at Save Rural Service centre under Chiredzi District on Friday.

He said the move was in line with the global and national agenda on sustainable waste management, as well as the national aspirations as depicted in the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) and Vision 2030.

“This clean-up programme augments the Presidential Declaration on the First Friday per month clean-up as well as efforts by the business community, to adopt and adapt sustainability principles and circularity in the material chain of custody” said Minister Ndlovu.

“Circularity and mutual symbiosis in the business sector remains a key vehicle to ensuring recycling, remaking, repurposing and thus achieving zero waste in the environment”.

He said his ministry and the police will not hesitate to descend heavily on litterbugs.

Minister Ndlovu also called on the business community to embrace the cradle to the cradle principle.

This, he said, was a concept in which producers or retailers follow through the life cycles of their products from manufacture to recycling, as opposed to the cradle to the grave, whose final port of call is disposal.

“Such a principle is a vital facet of a circular economy and it will ensure the cleanliness of service centres, and the environment in its entirety,” he said.

The Minister added that rural communities should collaborate with recycling companies for the collection of recyclable material.

He said such a setup will go a long way in propelling the model and can aid communities to lead decent lives when they convert, “Trash to cash”.

“My Ministry through the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) supports more than 200 Community Based Organisations nationwide, which have their livelihoods based on waste management.

Going forward, focus on all clean-up programmes are Rural Service Centres and Growth points, such as Save, as we thrive to “leave no one behind” in the sustainable management of waste,” said Minister Ndlovu.

He said it was also important for rural communities to team up and form Community Based Organisations and utilise the waste from their service centres as a resource and take a cue from those in urban settlements.

The Minister said this year’s clean-up was running under the theme, ‘Together-Growing our Economy for a Prosperous, Resilient and Inclusive Society for a clean, safe and healthy environment’.

This, he said was crucial as the nation commemorates its hard-won independence.

“Local authorities, as the biggest beneficiaries of the clean-up campaigns, should take a leading role in organising these events, under the guidance of the District Development Coordinators and EMA. They must provide adequate public bins at the growth points, rural service centres and ensure that the frequency of emptying these bins promotes cleanliness,” said Minister Ndlovu. @tupeyo

 

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