ALL waste pickers in Bulawayo will soon be registered to ensure their operations are orderly and viable.
This came out in a recent consultative meeting to review the proposed Bulawayo solid waste management by-laws which were enacted in 1970 and are no longer relevant to modern trends. A waste picker is a person who salvages reusable or recyclable materials thrown away by others to sell or for personal use.
The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) partnered with Mercy Corps, a global non-governmental, humanitarian aid organisation, to develop an inclusive and effective solid waste management by-law to cater for the needs of the local authority. BCC cleansing superintendent, Nkanyiso Ndlovu said it would outline the role of waste pickers.
“In the current by-laws, there is no clear provision for waste pickers, but from the consultations that we have had, we are seeing people are saying let us register these waste pickers, this is very critical so that we regulate their activities,” he said. — New Ziana