Opinion / Columnist
MEJA Submits Opinion Brief to the Bulawayo City Council Leadership
06 Jun 2015 at 06:20hrs | Views
As part of the 2015 World Environment Day commemorations, Matabeleland Environmental Justice Association (MEJA) has submitted a 10 point Opinion Brief on the strategies of reducing litter in the City of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest City to the office of the City Mayor and the office of the City Town Clerk.
The Opinion Brief was developed through a consultative process where the association gathered views from Bulawayo residents through social media platforms.
Below are some key issues contained in the Opinion Brief:
1. The need to formulate a clear and broader vision on environmental management and litter reduction in the City and this vision should be shared with all stakeholders and communities within the City of Bulawayo;
2. Local authority to increase the number of litter bins especially in the Central Business District and the residents encouraged to own litter bins or buy the plastic disposable litter bags;
3. Local authority to partner with civic and private stakeholders to do awareness raising and consciousness building on the importance of citizen participation in maintaining a safe, clean and litter free environment. This will also entail change of culture and attitudes among the residents;
4. Polluter Pays Principle – engaging the polluters and those companies whose products are widely used and cause a lot of litter to partner the local authority in litter reduction strategies
5. Enforcement of litter and environmental by laws within the City;
6. The local authority to increase litter collection personnel and frequency of times when litter is collected. This may also be achieved through encouraging environmental volunteerism;
7. Encourage citizens to venture into litter related business ventures especially in the recycling part of litter;
8. Investing in litter recycling businesses and incentives for the local and international recycling enterprises;
9. Facilitating learning and exchange visits with other countries and cities that have managed to run successful environmental and litter management programmes;
10. Increased citizen participation in environmental and litter through policy and programme formulation. (These points are better explained on the blog: https://matabelelandenvironmentaljusticeassociation.wordpress.com)
Meanwhile the MEJA Chairperson today also featured at a community radio programme articulating issues in the Opinion Brief and explaining the importance of the World Environment Day as environmental advocacy platform.
Matabeleland Environmental Justice Association is an association that exists to advocate and campaign for environmental and climate justice in the Matabeleland Region of Zimbabwe. The association is based in Bulawayo and can be contacted on mejaoffice@gmail.com.
The Opinion Brief was developed through a consultative process where the association gathered views from Bulawayo residents through social media platforms.
Below are some key issues contained in the Opinion Brief:
1. The need to formulate a clear and broader vision on environmental management and litter reduction in the City and this vision should be shared with all stakeholders and communities within the City of Bulawayo;
2. Local authority to increase the number of litter bins especially in the Central Business District and the residents encouraged to own litter bins or buy the plastic disposable litter bags;
3. Local authority to partner with civic and private stakeholders to do awareness raising and consciousness building on the importance of citizen participation in maintaining a safe, clean and litter free environment. This will also entail change of culture and attitudes among the residents;
4. Polluter Pays Principle – engaging the polluters and those companies whose products are widely used and cause a lot of litter to partner the local authority in litter reduction strategies
5. Enforcement of litter and environmental by laws within the City;
6. The local authority to increase litter collection personnel and frequency of times when litter is collected. This may also be achieved through encouraging environmental volunteerism;
7. Encourage citizens to venture into litter related business ventures especially in the recycling part of litter;
8. Investing in litter recycling businesses and incentives for the local and international recycling enterprises;
9. Facilitating learning and exchange visits with other countries and cities that have managed to run successful environmental and litter management programmes;
10. Increased citizen participation in environmental and litter through policy and programme formulation. (These points are better explained on the blog: https://matabelelandenvironmentaljusticeassociation.wordpress.com)
Meanwhile the MEJA Chairperson today also featured at a community radio programme articulating issues in the Opinion Brief and explaining the importance of the World Environment Day as environmental advocacy platform.
Matabeleland Environmental Justice Association is an association that exists to advocate and campaign for environmental and climate justice in the Matabeleland Region of Zimbabwe. The association is based in Bulawayo and can be contacted on mejaoffice@gmail.com.
Source - MEJA
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