LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – The hard-working men and women who strive to keep Lusaka communities clean were recognised earlier this month, in an awards ceremony organised by Zambian Breweries.
The Manja Pamodzi recycling initiative waste collectors and aggregators picked 3,190 tonnes of recyclable plastic waste off the streets of Lusaka in 2018.
The dedication of these entrepreneurs was awarded at the project’s annual award ceremony when 40 top-performing collectors and aggregators each received a cash award and, hampers that included a chitenge, sugar, cooking oil, rice and drinks.
“Through the Manja Pamodzi project we are improving the livelihoods of people in the community through working together for a better world. Hosting the Manja Pamodzi awards shows how much we appreciate the works of our collectors and aggregators in picking the solid waste. Because of this, plastic waste has reduced in the townships and drainages,” said Zambian Breweries corporate affairs director Ezekiel Sekele.
The award ceremony held at Zambian Breweries’ Mungwi road head office in Lusaka recognised collectors from eleven areas: Ngombe, Chibolya, Bauleni, Kalikiliki, Mtendere, Garden, Matero, Chunga, Chipata compound, Kaunda Square and George compound.
Harrison Musonda, an aggregator from Chunga, came out as the top performer in 2018. Mr Musonda said: “Being awarded as a top performer shows how much Manja Pamodzi appreciates us through the work we do. This is a huge motivation to me and I am looking forward to work even better in 2019.”
“I am very happy that we increased the volumes of our collections in 2018. And this meant we reduced a lot of waste and made our environments cleaner.”
Harrison took the first top performance position, second position and most improved was taken by Chama Kapya, an aggregator from Chibolya site, followed by Henry Kalolo in third position.
Manja Pamodzi (Hands-Together) is a community-based initiative that seeks to rid low income townships of post-consumer packaging waste that is usually non-biodegradable, while also creating enterprise opportunities for local people. Since the project started in 2015, the number of collectors has risen to 690, with 11 aggregator sites around Lusaka.
The collectors gather discarded plastic bottles, cartons and cans, which they sell to aggregators. Upon receiving the waste, aggregators sort the materials, separating plastics from metals and paper, before reselling the material to processors who then recycle them into household products such as PVC pipes and egg trays.
So far, the project has collected over 6,361 tonnes of waste from Lusaka’s streets.
The Manja Pamodzi project has grown, and Zambian Breweries looks forward to working and partnering with many other stakeholders in making the project even bigger in 2019.
