Urban Sprawl: A Cause of Concern for Solid Waste Management in Peri-Urban Areas: A Case of Emthunzini Township in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Abstract

Solid waste management (SWM) constitutes one of the most crucial health and environmental hazards facing communities in peri-urban areas of Bulawayo. Bulawayo was once labeled as the cleanest city in Zimbabwe, however a lot need to be desired as the population grows and as the city expands. A lot remains to be done if the living standards of the peri-urban dwellers are to be improved. The expertise, both local and foreign, should be compatible with norms and custonnnms of the potential users, customers of the proposed services. Perhaps optimum results could be obtained by involving the target population for example in managing their water supply and sanitation as well as solid waste.

 As a result of the increased in-migration and increase in consumption levels amongst people in Bulawayo, there is a sharp increase in the volume and also in the variety of solid waste. This has severely affected the peri-urban areas that lack proper municipal services. It is important to alleviate societal concerns over the increased rate of resource consumption and waste production; thus, policy makers have encouraged recycling and reuse of waste materials. Thispaper has interrogated the challenges of solid waste management in Bulawayo peri-urban areas, factors that lead to improper dumping of waste and proposed waste mitigation measures in Emthunzini peri-urban areas of Bulawayo.

Data for this study was collected through an in-depth interview with the household head

 Primary data was gathered from questionnaire surveys, guided interviews, photograph shooting and direct observation. Secondary data was gathered through desk study of documentary sources such as electronic publications, old newspapers, and library sources. The study used pragmatists ideology where both qualitative and quantitative data was used triangulated with secondary data sources. The research findings indicate that the major challenge of poor solid waste disposal is no refuse collection services offered by Umguza rural district council. There is massive debate between Bulawayo city council and Umguza rural district council over the ownership of land. The rural district on which Emthunzini falls under, have conflicting interests with the city of Bulawayo especially considering the fact that the city needs land to accommodate expansion yet the district is worried about loss of revenue base if Umguza plots are taken away. Therefore, this has triggered both parties to be on standstill concerning services like road rehabilitation, water supply, sewage waste management and solid waste management. The article finds that the service providers have continuously failed to provide adequate, regular, effective and efficient waste management services, particularly refuse collection. There is lack of proper refuse collection services at Emthunzini township. As a result, the majority of residents were forced to adopt alternative means of waste disposal, most of which were not environmentally friendly. Among other methods, residents relied on burning, burying, composting, recycling or reusing and illegal, the collective impact of which has been to create excessive illegal dumps in the streets, drainage systems and such other sensitive areas. There are various negative effects to the environment of illegal dumping of waste at Emthunzini that were cited by the households. Dumping of solid waste in these suburbs has been associated with health risks and hazards. This paper concludes and recommended that this state of affairs would persist if national government does not provide support to local authorities to ensure that it could mount educational campaigns, implement and enforce all applicable legislation, secure adequate resources for safe and adequate waste management as well as embark on innovative techniques, in collaboration with the private sector