Wart hog was at Lusaka’s Soweto Market,which is slowly getting engulfed in garbage.If you live in Lusaka, you do not have to go far to see the trash which is continuously piling-up at this market. There is a huge heap of smelly waste on the western side of this market, but life goes on with the sellers and buyers. Garbage is actuallya common scenario in most parts of Lusaka, from your backyard, main roads, side roads, bus stations and markets- virtually everywhere you go. It is disgusting especially this time of the year – rainy season. Every time you have to take extra care not to step on chicken feathers or waste, plastics, diapers or rotten food stuff. One cannot help, but ask the question; what is the Local Government’s plan regarding thiswaste that is continually engulfing our one time clean city of Lusaka?
I’m one of the residents of Lusaka who had the privilege of paying a waste management company to collect my trash weekly when I lived on the other side of town. I am not sure if this service is available for Soweto area, since I have never seen one of those trucks in thatarea.
Soweto Market is a hazard to human health, where are the authorities to save us from this environmental hazard; Lusaka City Council what is the problem?If we are failing to manage waste in markets, how will people manage waste from their homes?
Warthog askedsome Soweto vendors if they pay any fee for selling their products in the undesignated places and the answers obtained were “yes we pay to the council and we have receipts for the payments, but we do not know why they do not pick this waste.”“If this wasat a well-known super market or chain store like Shoprite or Spar, this was going to be big news, but because this is our own, we are quiet”, thoughtWarthog.We pretend like nothing is wrong, no political will and no directive of any form.
What is also amazing is the quality and standard of products being sold in this area; anything you could think of, but the prices would make you think twice. Products range from meats, cooking oils, soaps, detergents, medicines, farm products (fresh fruits/vegetable, live chickens etc.), musical/video CDs, beverages and the list is endless. What is disturbing is that the designing of this market was for people to operate from inside the market and not outside. Aside from people trading from outside the market, one wonders whether this trading area is for live chickens,meats, vegetable, cloths, medicines, shoes, the list for Soweto trading area is endless.
The entire Lusaka City is in a mess. Some time back we preached that every household was obliged to pay the garbage fee due to the fact that every home generates waste on a daily basis. Why not incorporated this fee in our water bills or land rates whatever is easier for the Local Authorities if the problem is finance. We would then have a central dumpster on every street corner where we can dispose our trash. Every week the trucks would come and do their rounds collecting the trash.
Knowing well the great benefits this would have to our city, Wart Hog would gladly pay garbage fee;not what is happening now. It is no secret that when our trash is collected and disposed in designated landfills, we would have a cleaner city. Before you know it we would be breathing cleaner air, drinking cleaner water, eating cleaner food and living healthier lives. What does this mean for the government but a happierand healthier population?
This would mean no more dying from those funny curable diseases. Instead of residents spending time lining up at clinics and taking days off from work, they would be busy working hard making money for the government.
The government needs to take proactive measures in insuring that they manage the waste problems which our country faces. This may not seem as a big problem now, but with the growing population in towns, it will be so critical in a few years. Don’t just collect trash in wealthy neighborhood drivesbut the poor ones too.
Wart hog knows waste control is important because the storage and disposal of waste needs to be controlled carefully, since waste presents a risk of physical contamination to food and may attract pests.
Additionally, food that is damaged, out of date or rotting may present a risk of microbiologicalcross contamination from harmful bacteria.
Waste can be regarded as any item of food, ingredients, packaging materials or even soiledcleaning cloths which are not suitable for further use and which are intended to be discarded.
The following issues need to be considered when controlling waste:
• Food waste should be placed in containers with suitably fitted lids and removed frequently from food handling areas where it is produced.
• Sufficient containers should be provided and placed conveniently where the waste occurs.
Containers must be of an appropriate construction, kept in sound condition, and be easy toclean and disinfect.
• Refuse containers used for the storage of waste awaiting collection should have a suitablyfitted lid and be made of a durable material which is easy to clean and disinfect.
• Other waste such as cardboards and paper need not be placed in a sealed container, but must bekept separate from food and must be stored in such a way as not to pose a risk ofcontamination to food.
• Refuse stores must be designed and managed in such a way as to enable them to be keptclean and protected against access by pests. Refuse stores should ideally be located awayfrom food storage and handling areas and must not give rise to the risk of contamination offood or drinking water.
The Waste Management Unit (WMU) as the regulatory unit of waste management in the city is mandated to plan, organize, execute (directly or indirectly) and supervise waste management services in other selected areas in the city and the management of disposal site.
Hereare a few things Wart hoglearnt which the authority is supposed to do for our city:Management of the disposal site (currently in Chunga for Lusaka)
Waste registration and charging of fees for waste disposal.
Collection of waste from the Central Business District.
Collection of fees from Central Business District.
Wart hog hopesthat we can all play our role in keeping our city and our surroundingsclean and healthy.
Wildlife & Environmental Conservation Society of Zambia
P.O. Box 30255, Lusaka, Zambia.
Telefax: 260-211-251630, Cell: 0977-780770
E-mail: wecsz@coppernet.zm