Lusaka City Council (LCC) Director of Public Health, Edgar Mulwanda, says public cooperation is a key factor to improving solid waste management in the city.
Mr Mulwanda said a clean city is dependant on people putting out their waste at the time and manner that is fully supportive of the technical collection system.
“One example of the relationship between technical system and the enabling framework is that to be successful, public cooperation is a key factor,” he said.
Mr Mulwanda was speaking at the on-going Solid Waste Management and Improvement Plan Review Workshop at Fringila Lodge in Chisamba today.
He observed that public cooperation requires education, regulation, inspection and enforcement.
Mr Mulwanda observed that women and children have the most important roles for cooperation as they are often the household members that perform the tasks of waste storage, recyclables segregation, and waste discharge to the collection point.
“Optimising women and children cooperation requires education and incentives, as well as some special design attention to their strength, height and schedules,” he said.
The aim of the workshop is to review the Solid Waste Management and Improvement Plan for the integrated solid waste management in Lusaka City which expired in 2017.
The workshop has been organised by LCC with the support People’s Process on Housing and Poverty in Zambia in coalition with Water Aid Zambia.
According to the workshop concept note, Lusaka city generates about 1,000 tons of waste per day.
However, only about 45 percent of the generated waste is transported to Chunga Landfill – the only designated disposal site in the city.
The volume of waste being generated continues to increase at a faster rate than the ability to manage it due to inadequate resources.
Another factor affecting Lusaka city to effectively manage waste is the indiscriminate illegal dumping of waste and littering by the public.
