BULAWAYO City Council is in the process of hiring a private consultant to carry out feasibility studies with the aim of finding a lasting solution to the Richmond Sanitary Landfill.
Richmond Sanitary Landfill, popularly known as Ngozi Mine, is Bulawayo’s primary waste disposal site and was commissioned in 1994 with the 30-hectare unlined site receiving more than 275 tonnes of waste daily.
It has sparked major environmental and health controversies due to recurring fires, groundwater contamination and the hazards of informal salvaging.
Originally designed with a 20 to 25-year lifespan, the site has outlived its intended operational period, though it continues to operate and while relocation has been considered, it is, however, currently deemed too costly.
Concerns have also been raised that the landfill is an overcapacity, hazardous site that causes toxic air pollution for approximately 400 households living nearby.
In an interview with Southern Eye, Bulawayo town clerk Christopher Dube said the local authority is attempting to mitigate the recurring fires and health risks that residents continue to face due to the dangerous conditions at Ngozi Mine.
“Ngozi Mine is not in good shape [and] government directed that we get a private partnership to work with on this project,” he said.
Dube said Bulawayo has since started engaging Geo Pomona Waste Management (Pvt) Ltd over the issue, taking note of a private public partnership framework that needs to be followed.
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He said council was also working with the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency amid efforts to combine refuse collection.
“We want to hire a private independent consultant to carry out a feasibility study to assist us on how we can go about this project. We have engaged Geo Pomona, but we want a competitive bidding process to happen,” Dube said.
“We will advertise. People may say it is slow but we want everything done above board.”
Their hope is that they would have completed the process by the end of the year.
Richmond Sanitary Landfill suffers from frequent, severe fires which are typically started deliberately by salvagers trying to extract metals, creating a public health nuisance via hazardous smoke that impacts neighbouring suburbs like Cowdray Park.
Because the landfill overlies a shallow aquifer, it poses a long-term risk of subsurface water contamination from heavy metals and electronic waste.
The dumpsite provides a livelihood for hundreds of informal waste pickers although the individuals face severe health hazards from manual lifting, dust and exposure to toxic or pathogen-infested waste.
Authorities, including the Environmental Management Agency and government ministries, regularly engage the Bulawayo City Council.
Proposed long-term solutions aim to upgrade on-site machinery, establish a waste-to-energy plant, and formalise local recycling.
