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CHRA goes green
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
August 30, 2013

The Combined Harare Residents Association, in partnership with Highfield Environmental Management Trust launched the “Community Solid Waste Management Initiative” at a Clean Up Campaign which was held at Lusaka Shopping Centre yesterday afternoon. The initiative will see biodegradable waste generated at Lusaka Vegetable market being used into composting for vegetable gardens and biogas production for a soup kitchen for orphans and vulnerable children at Lusaka Community Centre.

Speaking at the Clean- up Campaign, CHRA Environment Chairperson Munyaradzi Kagoro, explained to the residents that waste was a resource which can change the lives of people economically and socially; and that residents must treat waste management as a business entity. Highfield Ward 24 Councillor Job Mbadzi encouraged the residents to practice sound waste management practices in order for the City to attain its world class status by 2025 and thanked CHRA for supporting the residents in demanding quality municipal services whilst initiating solutions. The initiative received overwhelming support from the local business sector, City of Harare Social Services Department, Environmental Management Agency and the vegetable vendors in the market who were also participants at the Clean-up Campaign.

Close to 400 kilograms of vegetable waste from the Lusaka market was collected and taken to the Community Centre where the waste is used to make composts for community gardening. Collected waste plastic paper is also being used by residents to make floor polish which they sale to other residents in their community.

However residents at the campaign expressed great concern over the fact that most of them are just trying to make ends meet but they do not have proper knowledge on waste management. They are just using the basic knowledge that they have but this is not adequate for them to achieve life changing impact. The ward leaders requested the CHRA Secretariat to come up with civic education initiatives on different ways of waste management; separation of waste and how to dump waste.

CHRA encourages home grown solutions as the panacea to challenges of waste management in the City and recommends development partners to support such initiatives.

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