Raymond Jaravaza, ray.jaravaza@chronicle.co.zw
BULAWAYO residents are choking under the weight of uncollected refuse that has been piling in the city centre and some suburbs as council battles to bring a potential health ticking time bomb under control, by bringing back into service 15 compactors that are undergoing maintenance repairs and scheduled servicing.
Refuse has not been collected in some suburbs for three weeks, forcing residents to burn the garbage as a way of reducing the ever increasing piles of waste.
Authorities say this (burning) is an illegal measure that could land them in trouble with the Environmental Management Agency (EMA).
On Monday, Bulawayo Town Clerk Mr Christopher Dube appealed for patience from residents saying council was working to resolve the uncollected refuse problem.
“The City of Bulawayo would like to advise residents and stakeholders of refuse collection challenges for the past few weeks. This is due to refuse compactor mechanical challenges.
“The City has been operating with four compactors which are undergoing servicing, while 11 compactors are undergoing repairs,” he said.
“Areas that have not been serviced for the three weeks will be attended to in the coming week (next week). The City of Bulawayo sincerely apologises for any convenience caused,” said Mr Dube in a public notice.
In an interview with Zimpapers yesterday, the City’s Director of Health Services, Dr Edwin Mzingwane, said council was working flat out to ensure the situation is resolved in the next fortnight.
“We have four new compactors that council took delivery of in April this year that were due for service as determined by the distances that they had travelled since joining our fleet,” he said.
“We also have 11 compactors that are undergoing repairs and grounded. Our hope is that council will not face procurement delays in acquiring spare parts for the vehicles.
“All things equal, we expect the uncollected refuse to be off the streets in the next two weeks,” said Dr Mzingwane.
He warned residents against burning uncollected refuse.
“It’s a criminal offence under the EMA Act to burn refuse and we urge residents to desist from that practice,” said Dr Mzingwane.
“In the next two weeks, all the refuse will be collected, so council appeals for patience from residents. The situation is dire but we are trying our best to make sure that refuse is collected at least once a fortnight while council works on bringing back the compactors back on the road,” he added.
“We also urge residents to separate their waste, for instance separating left-over food from plastic bottles and cardboard boxes, to make the work of our refuse collection teams easier when handling bulk waste.”
In April, council invested over US$600 000 in the acquisition of four refuse compactors, a move authorities said was meant to strengthen its refuse collection capacity and improve service delivery. The new additions bring the city’s fleet of refuse compactors to 15, although council requires 30 refuse trucks to adequately cover all areas.
Each refuse compactor cost US$150 600 bringing the total expenditure of the four vehicles to US$602 400. Vendors at Renkini Bus Terminus told Zimpapers that the stench of rotting refuse was unbearable.
“Refuse has not been collected since 20 October and it continues to pile up making working here unbearable because of the smell from the rotting waste.
“We now fear an outbreak of cholera, which could spread very fast across Matabeleland given that this terminus serves people travelling to and from all corners of Matabeleland,” said Mrs Eunice Moyo, who sells fruits and soft drinks at the long distance bus terminus.
Mr Promise Ncube, another vendor, said they have resorted to piling waste on one corner of the terminus but can only watch as rotting fruits and leftover food emit a foul smell.
“We appeal to council to collect the waste at least twice a week. Many people use the terminus on a daily basis hence waste piles up fast,” said Mr Ncube.
In Pumula East suburb a resident said they had stopped taking their refuse bins out of their yards because council was not collecting refuse.
“It’s better to keep our refuse in plastic bags inside our yards until council resumes refuse collection,” said the resident.
At the market area in the city centre, piles of refuse are also piling up. The situation has been compounded by the rains that were experienced in the city that have resulted in discarded produce such as cabbages and tomatoes rotting.
Vendors are worried that the uncollected refuse might be washed away into storm drainage pipes causing blockages.
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