RECYCLING.

Received from Charlene Hewat

We believe there is benefits from recycling and here they are:
1. firstly almost 70% of our household organic waste is put in bins
and sent off to the dumpsite, so we need to create composts in all
households.
Worm farming can also be done and this can also be done in flats. If
we can reduce this this is a major major contribution to our environment.
It
will help reduce the landfill site which bye the way is not a proper
landfill site. It is just a dump with no lining which means that
everything that is dumped there will eventually get into our ground
water and then - that is what we will drink. We are trying to
establish community action groups to take up action on issues such as
this and would appreciate any help from people interested. We also
need to push for changes in the bye laws so that for all low density
housing no compostables will be collected and if they are these
houses are fined. We are working on this in Victoria Falls where
composting is not allowed at present can you believe it. So pressure
on council to change, composting and ultimately worming is the way to
go
on this one.

2. Plastic is recyclable here in Zimbabwe and there is an excellent
company recycling called Pollywaste. You should go and visit their
factory and see what they are doing. They even pick plastic from
the dumpsite where hundreds of pickers live.

3. paper is recycled. We have three paper mills in Zimbabwe all
taking paper. This major issue is the collection

4. cans : this is currently an issue. Some 8 years ago we fought the
legistaltion to stop cans from coming in to Zimbabwe but lost and now
we need to make sure they are kept out of the environment. There are
many of our communities especially in chitungwiza who recycle or
should I say reuse the cans making toys. We are trying to establish
a way of making roofing out of the cans for use as chicken roofs and
rabbit roofs. Still in process. The cans are mainly tin with aliminum
tips and lids. If one can remove the alliminium the tin can be used
in pit beds in the garden as it puts the necessary nutrients back into
the soil.

5. Glass is reused and also recycled. However, our recycling factory
in Gweru is not up to scratch and needs to be revamped. There is also a
glass cooperative in Pomona who recycle glass - they do wonderful stuff.
We are trying to get funding to bring in a machine to make glass tiles,
this would be an excellent way of reusing glass.

There are people in Zimbabwe who make money out of recycling. Some of
these lesser privilaged live on the dumpsite. This is quite a site
and something that should be seen. We have produced a recycling
booklet for schools and awaiting funds to publish it and send it out.
Local recycling centres are a key way of looking at recycling but we
need to bring in the companies as well.

Car batteries are recycled and we worked with the company Chloride and
help establish a pellet making machine so all is reused there. Hope
this helps give further info and we would really appreciate any info
as we look at pushing recycling in Zimbabwe further.
Environment Africa belongs to all Zimbabweans and we are looking for
continued support and volunteers to help our environment and our
people in
Zimbabwe. Please feel free to pop in and see us

Kind regards
Charlene Hewat
CEO
Environment Africa