New waste facility poses health risks

Communities surrounding the newly-opened Msiro Waste Management Facility in Mzuzu are at the risk of contracting sanitation-related infections as it has become a breeding ground for houseflies.

Mzuzu mayor William Mkandawire said this last week when European Union (EU) Ambassador Marchel Gerrmann toured the sanitation facility to appreciate how it is being utilised.

Mkandawire said the waste management facility has become a health hazard as Mzuzu City Council is struggling to sort out waste at the facility constructed with funding from EU to reduce, reuse and recycle waste.

He said the council is understaffed and few entrepreneurs have come forward to take up the business opportunity of recycling waste.

“We are not fully making use of this facility. We are very far from it. We need to improve on a number of areas, more especially on staffing and identifying organisations to sort out the waste,” he said.

The mayor asked entrepreneurs to take up the business opening to turn litter into wealth.

The facility was constructed under the Peri-urban Sanitation and Hygiene project implemented by the council, CCAP Synod of Livingstonia Development Department and Plan Malawi.

Plan Malawi programme quality manager Alice Chapuma said coming up with strategies to protect the nearby communities is “work in progress”.

According to Gerrmann, EU bankrolled the project to help Mzuzu manage increasing waste in view of rapid population growth. n