Council needs more than 15 refuse removal trucks

Providence Moyo

Bulawayo City Council (BCC) is operating with less than 10 refuse trucks while trying to service its 29 wards, a situation that has caused challenges in refuse collection. 

This was revealed by BCC communications officer Nesisa Mpofu while speaking during a virtual engagement that was organised by Bulawayo Arts News Online (BANO) on Friday.

Mpofu said in an ideal setup, the city must have at least 25 trucks for it to be able to collect refuse efficiently. She said  the eastern suburbs are the worst affected areas. 

 “Without the participation of the community, the situation would be worse. In high density areas the community truckers are collecting refuse weekly and most areas are clean. Eastern areas are affected by vehicle breakdowns which affect frequency of collection  while the high density suburbs are being serviced through partnerships with  community  contractors.”

“The availability of resources affects the efficiency of the collection of waste. We will procure more vehicles to improve performance as well as engage partners to improve sustainability of the service and by year end, we are expecting a maximum of two new trucks,” she said.

Mpofu used the occassion to express the council’s displeasure on the increasing congestion in the Central Business District (CBD) citing it as one of the causes of excess littering.

“The CBD is very crowded as the formal sector is shrinking with people coming to town to eke out a living through informal trading that includes vending and taxi operations and this is making it difficult for the local authority to mantain cleanliness in the city.”

A participant spoke about the dilemma that residents find themselves in when they have to trade morality with pragmatism.  

“BCC is fighting fires in trying to contain massive accumulation of solid waste, which is exacerbated by illegal dumping by residents. We do not condone dumping but what are the residents supposed to do masekugcwele impukane ekhaya ngezibi. Uthi uyatshisa abe Environmental Management Agency (EMA) ,’bathi carbon emissions,’ Hospitals don’t have cholera treatment, so it’s best ukuyalahlela kude le egangeni than risking our lives,” said the resident.

The vehicles are reportedly facing mechanical problems and some were involved in accidents which forced council to hire private trucks for refuse collection.