The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) last week arrested and fined more than 70 litterbugs as it seeks to make Harare litter-free.
Recently, EMA launched a prosecution awareness campaign
aimed at achieving a zero-litter environment. The campaign seeks to raise
public consciousness about the consequences of littering. So far EMA, has
opened five dockets and issued 70 tickets, with the litter bugs paying fines of
up to $30.
In an interview, EMA Harare provincial manager Mr Leon
Mutungamiri emphasised the importance of collective responsibility in
maintaining a litter-free city.
“We cannot achieve a cleaner environment without the active
participation of every citizen. It is our duty to preserve our city’s beauty
and protect our ecosystems for future generations.
“Very soon we will be visiting high-density areas, but for
now we are doing our awareness campaigns in areas close to the town and we hope
to have a zero-litter clean city,’’ he added.
He said the environmental body will take for prosecution
those who pollute the environment.
“Our agenda is to make sure that there is a zero-litter
city, so last week we managed to fine at least 70 people for US$30.”
Mr Mutungamiri said the agency’s awareness campaigns are
also targeting shopping centres.
“We are conducting workshops and distributing information
materials in these areas, targeting both shoppers and the staff who work there.
Our aim is to ensure that everyone understands the importance of keeping our
city clean and the role they can play in making this happen,” he said.
He said the campaign will also include initiatives to
encourage recycling, with a focus on encouraging people to separate their waste
at source.
“We are encouraging people to adopt the 3 Rs – reduce,
recycle, and reuse. For example, in order to keep our environment clean, we
should not throw away bottles after drinking our drinks but rather keep using
them and also the plastic can be recycled to produce bags and pipes,” he said.
He urged residents to practice litter separation by using
the coloured bins.
“You should be able to separate waste by using bins, such as the red bin for glass, the green bin for plastics, the blue bin for cans, and the black bin for general waste,” he said. Herald
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