SHORTAGE of refuse removal trucks throttles the Bulawayo City Council (BCC)’s garbage collection daily activities around the city.
This has came at a time when the city council is doing everything possible to clear out informal traders operating at illegal places so as to decongest and promote cleanliness in the city.
According to the BCC minutes dated February 2 2024, council reported that the Community refuse collection program was serviced by an average of eight compactors each day.
City of Bulawayo Director of Health Services Edwin Sibanda reported the daily garbage collection activity has been adversely affected by mechanical faults on trucks which collect refuse.
“The Eastern Suburbs were serviced by the Bulawayo City Council compactors, some tasks were not completed overlapping to the following day. Health Care waste collection continued to be adversely affected as the truck which was dedicated for that purpose was grounded due to a mechanical fault, nevertheless supervisory van was assigned to cover up the duties,” read the minutes
“There was an average of four supervisory vans during the period under review. Supervisory vehicles remained inadequate as there were seven supervisors plus enforcement team yet there were four vehicles on the road. This led to under reporting in other routine activities such as enforcement of dog control by laws and investigation of complaints,” reads the minutes
Council also noted that illegal waste disposal and dumping around the city has remained a challenge though.
“The Central Business District continued to be serviced by community truckers daily. At least one Bulawayo City Council truck serviced the Central Business District daily. There was significant improvement on the servicing of dailies on Saturday though there were not fully serviced,
The western areas were satisfactorily covered by community truckers though teams experienced some delays in finishing tasks. However illegal waste disposal and dumping around the city remained a challenge that needed to be addressed. Challenges remained with the clearing of sweepings and dailies due to shortage of vehicles,” reads the council minutes.
Source Bulawayo24
