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By Conrad Mwanawashe

Poor solid waste management (SWM), especially in urban areas that are grappling with growing populations, could threaten ecosystems and human health.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), an estimated 11.2 billion tonnes of solid waste is collected worldwide and decay of the organic proportion of solid waste is contributing about 5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

UNEP says that poor waste management – ranging from non-existing collection systems to ineffective disposal – causes air pollution, ground water and soil contamination and can cause infection and transmit diseases.

The National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) says that coupled with economic growth, improved lifestyle, and consumerism, “cities across the globe will continue to face an overwhelming challenge of SWM as the world population is expected to rise to 8 billion by 2025 and to 9.3 billion by 2050, out of which around 70% will be living in urban areas”.

According to NCBI, in developing countries, most cities collect only 50–80% of generated waste. However, many low-income countries collect as low as 10% of the garbage generated in suburban areas, which contributes to public health and environmental risks, including higher incidents of diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections among people, particularly children, living near garbage dumps.

This aptly depicts the situation that was obtaining in the areas around the Pomona garbage dump until about two years ago.

Passing through Pomona during that time, strong odours emanated from the dumpsite which also attracted flies, insects and rats which are widely known as carriers of disease.

The situation has changed now following Geo Pomona Waste Management’s takeover of the dumpsite.

“Waste was all over the place,” said Engineer Anesu Zingambe, Operations and Compliance Manager for Geo Pomona.

“Existing waste which was here before from 20-30 years ago was all over the place. There were no roads and lawns or flowers. It looks green and nice now,” she added while taking the media on a tour of the facilities.

Geo Pomona, which offers long-term and sustainable environmental solutions, took over the Pomona site from the City of Harare in 2022 after signing a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) joint venture agreement with a contractual lifespan of 30 years.

The objective of the project is to transform the Pomona dumpsite into a modern urban waste management facility for the City of Harare.

“This place was toxic. It was a disaster,” Geo Pomona CEO and Executive Chairman Dilesh Nguwaya.

“It’s no longer smelling and communities around us are now living in a healthy environment. There were uncontrolled fires on this dumpsite, sending thick smoke into the environment before we took over from the City of Harare,” he added.

A FIFA certified pitch with an artificial spine turf has since been constructed following the encapsulation of waste at the dumpsite.

Encapsulation is an engineering process which involves the covering of existing waste using special types of membranes.

“We pushed the waste and compacted it. After that we put a 2cm layer of soil so that we could put the geomembrane which addresses issues such as air pollution and ground water pollution.

The nature of waste is such that it produces gasses such as methane and sulphur oxide, therefore covering the waste with the geomembrane ensures that gasses will not escape into the atmosphere,” said Zingambe.

“The gasses which escape from waste can contribute to global warming and climate change and the geomembrane addresses that. It also does not allow rain to go through it, thus we do not have further contamination of ground water. It’s around 15 hectares of waste which we’re going to encapsulate,” she added.

Encapsulation is a worldclass solid waste management process which eradicates air pollution, ground water pollution, land pollution and uncontrolled fires.

Sustainability

Solid waste management is critical in achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which include ensuring clean water and sanitation (SDG6), creating sustainable cities and inclusive communities (SDG11), mitigating climate change (SDG13) and protecting life on land (SDG15).

Dzungambe said talks are ongoing with the City of Harare for Geo Pomona to collect solid waste in the city.

“As Geo Pomona Waste Management we’re confident that if we get this task of collecting waste, we’re going to make the city clean. We’re going to mop up all the waste which is produced in Harare. Just like we’ve done with waste management here at the Pomona dumpsite.

“Our waste to energy plant will need 1,000 tonnes of waste per day to be able to generate between 16MW and 22MW. According to our calculations, if we’re able to collect all the waste that is produced in Harare, we’ll be able to meet that generation capacity. This is the reason why we want to collaborate with the City of Harare so that we are able collect all the waste in the city,” said Zingambe.

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