The Sunday Mail
Francis Mashinya and Kimberly Kazungu
HIS is a woeful tale of a man, who eight years ago was forced to flee poverty somewhere in rural Manicaland and migrate to Harare in search of better opportunities.
After searching for formal jobs with no luck, a man only identified as Dzashe was encouraged by a friend to venture into waste collection to earn a living.
Seven years later, Dzashe can be mistaken for a runaway mental patient as he goes about his business clad in ragged and oily clothes.
But the man trudges on to make ends meet.
Pungent smells are common in his line of work as he rakes through heaps of waste, sorting through unimaginable trash without any protective clothing in search of plastic “treasures”.
He defies the ever-present threat of contracting diseases in this sprawling plastic recycling business.
Dzashe is one of the many waste collectors in Zimbabwe’s towns and cities, who are earning a living from plastic collection and selling it for recycling.
What many consider as rubbish has turned to be an income generating project for this hardworking street clique, which is also cutting across the gender divide.
Women who spoke to The Sunday Mail Society said they are now self-dependant and can also fend for their families.
The plastic material that Dzashe and his colleagues collect is mainly sold to smelters for a paltry 35 to 60 cents per kilogramme. The buyers go on to melt it and make new plastic bags, cups and dishes, among other plastic wares.
Many of the companies are making a killing from the recycled plastics.
Bales ready for collection
Although the waste collectors’ earnings are meagre, especially considering the amount of time and effort invested in waste collection, it is at least putting food on the waste collectors’ tables and keeping their lives crime-free.
Driven by the desire to earn a living, their operations play a pivotal role in ensuring that the environment is plastic free and clean.
Environmental sustainability requires that the maximum amount of waste be recycled, reused or processed without creating any environmental hazards.
Experts say if left at dumpsites, most plastics will eventually turn into an environmental hazard because the material used to manufacture them is polyethylene, which takes centuries to decompose.
According to a 2016 study, there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans by the year 2050.
Yet it is not all doom and gloom.
People like Dzashe can help avert that disaster.
However, rising transport costs are now stifling the business.
“These days, we are encountering challenges, including increased costs because the transport costs to deliver these things to potential buyers is killing us,” said Dzashe.
Waste collectors are calling for Government support.
