Smoke and air pollution have become the hallmark of Harare since a fire broke out at Pomona dumpsite, bringing to the fore the need for a permanent solution to how rubbish is disposed in the capital.
Comment: NewsDay Editor
With all manner of waste being thrown at the site, some of the material is toxic and has contaminated the air resulting in massive pollution.
Thick plumes of smoke enveloped most of the northern suburbs in the past three days and there is need to ensure such disasters do not recur.
Fires at Pomona have all but become an annual event and there is need for a lasting solution before there is permanent damage.
The city council and the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) need to come up with a more sustainable solution to waste management, as Pomona has proved it is not.
To make matters worse, the area is an illegal dumpsite and just for how long the authorities continue to use it in spite of its obvious flaws is anyone’s guess.
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However, what is self-evident is that a more permanent solution is needed before the numerous fire outbreaks at Pomona take their toll on people’s health.
The ad hoc approach to managing fires at the dumpsite is certainly not working and will be disastrous in the not so distant future.
What the local authority needs to do as a matter of urgency is to rehabilitate Pomona and ensure the area is used for something else, while a new and environmentally friendly dumpsite is established.
EMA and the Environment ministry should also be preaching the gospel of recycling, as most of the waste at the dumpsite can be recycled and that could reduce the cost of packaging.
Material that can be decomposed should be sold to people involved in market gardening and this will reduce the amount of waste that finds its way to dumpsites.
Zimbabwe needs a more proactive approach to waste management, as this will reduce the amount of waste while futureproofing the country against fires such as the one in Pomona.
Massive man hours and resources have been wasted on something that was largely avoidable and containable had authorities developed a more proactive approach to waste management.
The country cannot afford to expend so much energy on such and planning is an invaluable exercise to preventing such fire outbreaks.
Blaming the excessive heat for the Pomona fire is not enough, as the local authority seems to be doing, as everyone knows this is the hottest time of the year and it can lead to fire outbreaks.
Rather, the council should have planned since last October how it would prevent or contain any fires and we expect that right now, they are planning for next year.
As the cliché says failure to plan is planning to fail.
