The solid waste management in Mubaira growth point, Chegutu Rural District Council

Abstract

Solid waste management has been a topical issue in the urban centres of most developing countries including Zimbabwe. This has posed serious environmental challenges in the cities of Zimbabwe. However, this issue has concentrated on solid waste management in the urban areas leaving out the rural areas. Solid waste generation in the rural areas has since increased both in quantity and quality due to modernization. Solid waste composition in the rural areas has been known to be dominated by organic materials with only a small proportion making up the inorganic waste. This is no longer the case in present day as more inorganic wastes are being produced in rural areas than organic wastes. Previous research has concentrated on solid waste management in the large cities of Zimbabwe like Harare and Gweru, very little has been done on rural solid waste management. To address this knowledge gap, a research study was conducted in Mubaira growth point under Chegutu District. The goal of this study was to investigate the solid waste management system in place in Mubaira so as to assess its effectiveness. It meant to analyse the whole process from waste generation, storage, collection, transportation to disposal. The people’s perceptions and attitudes towards waste practices such as reuse, recycling and waste separation were also investigated. A total of 100 questionnaires were administered to the two main target populations in Mubaira which were the residential/ households and the business premises target populations. Stratified-systematic sampling was used in selecting the respondents for the households target population, whilst purposive sampling was used for selecting respondents in the business premises target population. Interviews, focus group discussions as well as field observations were also used in this study. The study revealed that the solid waste management system in Mubaira is inefficient as shown by the erratic waste collection system, emergence of illegal and environmentally unfriendly waste management practices which include burning and open dumping. It was gathered that solid waste management practices like recycling, reuse and waste separation are not being practiced effectively in Mubaira which exacerbated the problem of solid waste management. In light of this research, it was recommended that Chegutu Rural District Council come up with an Integrated Solid Waste Management system best suited to Mubaira growth point. It was also recommended that Environmental education and campaigns be conducted on a regular basis so as to educate the public on the importance of proper solid waste management and also to consult members of the public when making decisions that affect them. This would reduce the level of resistance in the implementation stage.