Public Health and Environmental Challenges in Zimbabwe: The Case of Solid Waste Generation and Disposal in the City of Masvingo

This paper is mainly an overview of the challenge of solid waste management in the city of Masvingo. The paper is based on experiential observation. The researchers are residents of the city of Masvingo. The paper established that Masvingo residents generate waste when they throw away weeds and garden debris, construction debris, food left-overs and packages, old tyres, metal scraps, among many others. Although there are regulations and by-laws on how to handle solid waste, it seems in practice these are not enforced. People discard solid waste by throwing bottles, fast food containers, and other items on the street or out of car windows. This results in a lot of litter in the city. Residents use metal and plastic medium sized bins, plastic paper, cardboard boxes and sacks for temporary waste storage, as determined by their ability to purchase the waste containers. Most high density residents do not afford bins, cardboard or any other temporary storage equipment. Hence they store their waste in open areas. The Masvingo city council does not take measures on residents who do not store their solid waste as per their regulations and by-laws. This encourages the people to continue littering their residential area. Among other things, this paper recommends a programme in which the municipality joins hands with other stakeholders (EMA, NGOs, residents’ associations, government departments, the business community, and many others) in advocacy campaigns and training sessions to ensure that residents are aware of risks associated with mishandling of solid waste.