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Manzini, popularly known as the "Hub of Swaziland" is home to over seventy eight thousand people. Manzini is grappling with serious waste management problems and urgent plans need to be put in place as the beautiful city is becoming a "hub of waste." The burning of waste is the norm, haze hovers over the city centre and waste is found in almost all places. What is most alarming is poor waste management systems in this populous city.  The dumpsite, where over seventy eight thousand residents dispose their waste, is in appalling condition. It is not fenced and is located near a cemetery where people bury their loved ones and say their last speeches amidst heaps of rubbish and staunch smells. 
 

People pay their last respects to their loved ones amidst rubbish

Is this how we are supposed to treat the dead? Adjacent to the dumpsite is also an informal settlement. As a result of poverty, residents of this settlement are forced to live with unpleasant smells and rubbish from the dumpsite.According to the City Council of Manzini, plans are underway to address  the serious

waste problems at the current dumpsite. "There are plans to relocate the dumpsite. A joint venture between Matsapha Town Board and the Manzini City Council has been established for a common landfill site. We are, however still looking for a site, " stated Mr. S Ntshalintshali the Chief Health Inspector of Manzini City Council. "We are in the process of identifying a consultant to carry out research and propose three sites where a joint common landfill site can be established," says Mr. Ephraim Masuku from the Matsapha Town Board. However, these proposed sites, do not necessarily have to be in Matsapha, he explained. However, this process will not be quick explained Mr. Tinus Joubert a Danish consultant on the solid waste management strategy.  "The construction process of the landfill site will include identifying the site, stakeholder consultations and construction. This will likely take three years," Mr. Joubert said. He added that both existing landfill and dumpsites in Manzini and Matsapha would cease to exist after the new landfill is constructed. 

Visits by Yonge Nawe to Manzini, Matsapha and Mbabane dumpsites revealed that there is a serious waste management problem in the country. However, unlike the Manzini, Matsapha dumpsites, the Mbabane landfill site is well established. At Matsapha, scavengers dressed barefoot were hanging within the entrance to snatch a jump into a moving waste vehicle so that they could first grab anything useable or edible.

Scavengers snatching food from  a moving vehicle

Mr Ntshalintshali explained, " Efforts to fence Manzini dumpsite were done in 1993. Fencing material was bought and was stolen." The city council of Manzini is taking a serious stance towards scavenging, as it is a health hazard, he added.  "There is always someone on site to monitor the waste. We cannot monitor scavenging at night", he explained.

Mr. Mantongomane Sibandze, an elderly man, is the dumpsite controller in Manzini. He does not have any record book of how much waste is being discarded at the dumpsite. However, he said that he is there to ensure that waste is separated at site. "Plastics, bottles, cardboard, household waste and general waste is separated at site," Sibanze said. "The scavengers are not a problem as women and children ensure that the bottles and cans reach the Brewers and papers such as cardboards reach the Swaziland Paper Mills," he added. "We sort out cans and sell them to the Brewery in Matsapha," an elderly woman at the dumpsite said. "Every Friday a truck arrives and pays us E5 per bag. The driver gives us cash for cans and this helps to feed our families," she explained.  In addition to selling cans scavengers also sell scrap metals. A teenager at the dumpsite said that she is paid 30c per kg. "If we manage to fill a 1 tonne truck we may earn as much as 300 Emalangeni." Although some scavengers scout for recyclables to sell others scout for waste food to feed themselves or their pigs and chicken. 

"The local population is adding to the problem we already have. They are uncooperative and continue to dump waste in the vicinity of their properties,"Mr Ntshalintshali said. The dumpsite is a serious health hazard for the informal settlement dwellers. "We close all the windows while we cook and when we cook fish the situation is unbearable," says Mrs Beauty Mthembu, a local resident. She added that they are exposed to diseases transmitted by rodents from the dumpsite. The informal settlement is also faced with health problems due to inadequate and substandard toilets.

The Matsapha landfill site unlike the one in Manzini is gated and fenced. In addition, four people, a Site Supervisor, Machine Operator, Entrance Controller and a person who directs vehicles where to dispose waste, manage it. The Entrance Controller, Mr. Dumisa Mdluli stated that approximately sixty-two trucks and vehicles dump their waste at this landfill site. He added the landfill is not for hazardous and chemical waste. "We only allow plastics, cardboard, organic waste, medical waste, planks, poles, tyres and mixed waste such as mealie meal and bread." The Diabetic Clinic in Matsapha discards tissues and medicine bottles," he stated. 
 

Breadcrumbs- a source of food security

Whilst heaps of waste were being burnt at this site, women, men and children were sifting through the waste, collecting breadcrumbs and other waste from trucks that had arrived. A youth at the dumpsite said that the bread truck arrives everyday and they compress breadcrumbs and eat. Mr Jonnes Chibi, a pig farmer regularly collects breadcrumbs from this site to feed his pigs.

He said he earns as much as 150 emalangeni for a porker he raise from the breadcrumbs. The waste situation is very different at Mbabane landfill site than at Manzini and Matsapha sites. There was no strong smell of waste as a machine was compacting waste. In addition, there was no burning of waste. The site is well managed and is located near a Hilltop on the outskirts of Mbabane. The landfill site is well fenced and gated. When Yonge Nawe visited the site, no scavengers were loitering on the premises. Unlike the Manzini and Matsapha sites, Mbabane site has a weighbridge for all vehicles entering the premises. In addition, it has a database information system to record all waste. Further, the opening and closing hours are fixed. "Running a landfill site such as this one is very expensive," says Mr. Welcome Dlamini, a worker from Mbabane City. "The compacting machine takes approximately 210L of diesel a day to compress all the waste. In addition, it costs the council about 30-40 thousand emalangeni to service it after every three to five months, " he added. 

The well- established Mbabane landfill site

"An organised group composed of mainly women scavenge at the site. They formed a co-operative and have set up their own rules on who to allow outside their co-operative into the landfill site," Dlamini explained. The women sort out plastic, glass, cans, and cardboard and sell to Ngwenya Glass, Sabil Foundation, and Swaziland Paper Mills.

They were taught about hazards associated with scavenging by the Public Nursing and Social Welfare Unit. In addition, this unit has also supplied them with first aid kits and uniforms, Dlamini added. 

The women contribute immensely to the recycling industry as trucks come every week to collect recyclables. However, the remuneration of 5 emalangeni per bag of cans they get is very little. 

Swaziland has a solid waste management strategy, which is addressing solid waste in the country. However, this strategy needs to be transformed into practical action on the ground. In this regard, a Recycling Project Task Team has been established that aims to establish Buy Back centers, disseminate recycling awareness information, and work with schools on waste issues. Waterford Kamhlaba is currently running a recycling pilot project and it is envisaged that this project will involve ten schools in waste recycling.

To get the waste problem under control, we as citizens of Swaziland need to take action as individuals, as families and as communities. We need to think about the effects of our consumption behaviour on how they impact to our health and the environment. 

Some Possible waste solutions: 

•  Waste prevention i.e. composting of organic domestic waste and garden waste, reduced use of plastic bags in supermarkets, deposit and return to Swaziland Brewers and Coca-Cola
•  Waste recycling i.e. recycling paper with Swaziland Paper Mills
•  Waste picking at landfill sites should be phased out in the long term through job creation in the recycling sector.
• Separate waste at source to discourage scavenging.
• Reduce, reuse and recycle waste