The ManicaPost
Post Reporters
VARIOUS stakeholders, among them Environmental Management Agency (EMA), Mutare City Council as well as Government departments and agencies, were today joined by residents in the provincial monthly clean-up exercise held in Mutare’s city centre.
The exercise, held countrywide on the first Friday of every month, was also carried out in other council wards across Mutare and throughout Manicaland.
Speaking during the main event in Mutare city centre, Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Advocate Misheck Mugadza’s wife, Mrs Rose Mugadza, urged the public to keep clean and safe environments.
“The thrust of the current clean-up campaign is recovery of waste material from the environment through reducing, reusing and recycling initiatives. The bulk of the material collected today is recyclable. Therefore, I urge you to convert trash into cash for the betterment of livelihoods. I am reliably informed that there are households who are surviving on collecting and selling waste materials. However, the challenge that we are facing in our recycling initiatives is mixing of waste material. Therefore, I encourage you to carry out waste separation at the source to ensure ease,” said Mrs Mugadza.
She called upon residents, vendors, transporters businesses and other stakeholders to adopt a culture of cleanliness daily, while maintaining the highest standards of hygiene and disposing of waste properly in order to prevent outbreaks of diseases such as cholera.
Meanwhile, the Chitakatira High Environmental Management Club partnered with Spar and Friends of the Vumba Trust for a clean-up exercise at the school.
The event also involved an educational session with the partners to share ideas on how to curb the scourge of used plastic bottles not properly disposed of and waste disposal.
Mrs Mugadza
The school head Mr Tigere John said they are delighted their club partnered Spar and Friends of The Vumba Trust to clean up the environment.
“With poor sanitation becoming prevalent, we are glad to have our learners taking up an initiative that benefits the community. Our partners have been exemplary leaders and we hope that the cooperation between them and us keeps going strong for many years to come,” he said.
Ms Susan Fernwick, chairperson of the Friends of The Vumba Trust and Mr Phil Angel of Spar urged learners to embrace proper waste disposal.
They distributed pamphlets on the matter to the school’s library.
Ms Fernwick said improper disposal of tougher materials such as rubber and plastic bottle tops is detrimental to the environment owing to their resistant nature.
She said: “Proper waste disposal is a global concern. As we reuse plastic water bottles, an innovative way of doing so is to stuff plastic into a bottle and then make a brick. These bricks are linked with wire and cement to make structures such as park benches and halls. This is to avoid wasting much space on waste disposal.”
Mary Chitura, the Chitakatira Secondary head girl, said the school is grateful for the support their budding environmental management club is getting from the partners.
“We are very happy that partners have come on board for environmental wellness intiatives that ultimately benefit the community. From today’s activities and brochures, we learnt that more can still be done in waste disposal so that we protect ourselves and our environment,” she said.
