Victoria Falls Municipality on waste management

 Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter

IN an effort to encourage recycling and sustainable waste management, Victoria Falls Municipality is urging residents to separate garbage in their homes and use organic waste as compost in gardens.

The local authority has said majority of waste is biodegradable kitchen left overs that can be recycled and used at household level.

Residents mix metals and electric gadgets including batteries which increases fossil fuels that cause veld fires at the dumpsite while also causing disposal challenges for the council at the dumpsite.

Speaking during a tour of an engineered landfill under construction, Victoria Falls town clerk Mr Ronnie Dube said the local authority is investing in sustainable waste management to meet international tourism destination standards.

The low cost landfill is being constructed using Devolution Funds from Government and is modelled around the Fukuoka waste treatment model in Japan.

“We are too eager to manage our waste post-Covid-19. This period has given us time to think about how to make our town green. We asked to meet stakeholders here so they have an appreciation of the project. We are a tourism town and we saw it fit to invest Devolution Funds into the project that so we meet world destination standards. We had planned a programme of centralising refuse collection in suburbs where we would be collecting from designated points with people expected to separate waste at home,” said Mr Dube.

He said waste separation at source is cost effective.

Victoria Falls town engineer Mrs Sherinah Sibanda said awareness programmes are lined up to educate residents about waste management.

She said mixing waste material is costly for council and makes management difficult yet residents can improve livelihoods through recycling.

“We had planned an awareness programme but we had to start by doing the landfill after getting $3,5 million Devolution Funds. Waste differs from town to town and suburb to suburb. We will need to characterise our waste and teach people to start separating at source. We may find no need for big bins at home but simply use plastic bags because some of the rubbish we put in bins is biodegradable and can be used as compost in our gardens. In developed countries waste generates revenue but for us we throw everything away,” said Mrs Sibanda.

She said the council will introduce centralised refuse collection where residents will take their bins to certain points near their houses on the day of refuse collection.

“Station collection makes collection easier, efficient and saves fuel and time as the truck won’t be getting into each and every street. We would need a cage, not for people to offload garbage but to put bins on the day of refuse collection. This will also encourage everyone to be responsible and not load soil and heavy material into bins,” explained the engineer.

Residents are encouraged to put electrical gadgets, metals, plastic paper and containers, tins and other items separately.

Mrs Sibanda said council will come up with a calendar for collection of specific type of waste.

She said even people who scavenge for valuables at the dumpsite will not do it haphazardly and litter the environment as they will go to specific points where the things they want will be.

Mrs Sibanda said in countries where waste separation is done at source, businesses advertise on refuse trucks because they are clean.

Outgoing Combined Victoria Falls Residents Association chair Mr Morgen Gazza Dube said it will be prudent to constantly educate residents about waste separation and recycling.

Source: Victoria Falls Municipality on waste management (11/09/20)

How tourism towns can do better on carbon emissions

By Kaitano Dube

Tourism, like any other economic sector, contributes to climate change through carbon emissions. The sector has a lot to lose from unsustainable practices, though. And this can have a serious impact on local and national economies and people’s livelihoods.

Tourism is one of the most important economic sectors. It contributes an average of about 10 percent to global gross domestic product and employs millions of young people and women across the world.

The first global tourism carbon emissions estimate report was released in 2005. Since then, there’s been a growing demand for the industry to reduce its carbon footprint. Tourism contributes about 5 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. To address this, the World Travel and Tourism Council has committed to cutting back 50 percent of its emissions by 2035 relative to 2005 levels.

My study looked at one of Africa’s most famous tourism sites, Victoria Falls, also known as Mosi-oa-Tunya, located between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The study examined how the Victoria Falls town tourism industry contributed to greenhouse gas emissions and what the industry was doing to mitigate climate change.

I found that the main sources of carbon emissions were the hospitality, transport and attraction sectors. The findings show that there’s potential to reduce the site’s carbon footprint through improving operational efficiency and investigating in green technology.

These findings could also guide other tourism sites – such as Kruger National Park in South Africa, Kariba resort town in Zimbabwe and the Okavango Delta in Botswana – in their efforts to become more sustainable and more attractive to environmentally aware tourists.

Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls is a nature-based tourism resort. As such, it also positions itself as a destination that’s conscious of its environmental practice. This is its brand appeal. Victoria Falls is an important tourism site to Zimbabwe and the broader African tourism market given several business linkages.

Victoria Falls itself is a fragile ecosystem. It has felt the impact of climate change through severe fluctuations in water flow at the waterfalls.

More than 600,000 tourists visit this World Heritage Site annually from around the world.

The primary activities in the resort town include a visit to the waterfalls, walking trails in the Victoria Falls rain forest, bungee jumping, game drives, swimming, cultural activities, boat rides and helicopter rides over the waterfalls. The primary economic activity in the town is tourism and immigration services.

My study focused on tourism businesses’ operational activities that have a bearing on greenhouse gas emissions, including green purchasing practices, type of equipment used, type of energy used, fuel consumption and measures to save energy and water. I found that the accommodation establishments in the Victoria Falls area were constructed sustainably to avoid minimal environmental disruptions.

Carbon emissions

My research found that various activities add to the burden of carbon emissions throughout the tourism value chain in Victoria Falls resort town.

All of the 50 accommodation establishments that participated in the research indicated that their operations were mostly dependent on electricity – which is mostly produced from coal. Drivers of emissions include energy inefficient equipment such as geysers and air conditioners.

Most accommodation establishments had high water usage, which also adds to the environmental footprint of the hospitality industry.

One of the worst contributors to greenhouse gases in the town is the vehicle fleet of the attraction and travel sector. Activities such as helicopter rides add to this, as do a large old fleet of road transport and large SUVs. The aviation sector alone, linking Victoria Falls to the world, is the site’s biggest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions.

The study also found that despite some efforts to be sustainable – with a lot of resources used in the construction and design being local – the culture of green purchasing within the tourism sector had not reached the acceptable stage.

Green tourism

But the resort town has the potential to redefine itself as a green tourism destination. Cognisant of the impact of climate change on the destination and business prospects, a number of tourism businesses have started to follow green tourism practices.

Some of the establishments have started to reduce carbon emissions by adopting gas for cooking and investing in solar technology for heating and lighting. But the uptake of solar is still slow because the technology is expensive to install.

Other projects in the town include those aimed at offsetting carbon emissions by planting more trees, which store carbon. The main mitigating initiative was waste separation and recycling.

Given the current pace, the resort town is unlikely to meet the global emissions targets of reducing emissions by 40 percent by 2030 in line with the demands of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals.

Going forward

Given the potential dangers associated with failing to reduce carbon emissions and climate change, Victoria Falls – and other tourism sites – needs strategic measures to help it onto a greener path.

Green building designs are one way of reducing environmental impact while still keeping tourists comfortable. With regard to transport, there’s a need to decongest the town through a rapid, efficient transport system and encourage bicycle usage to reduce emissions from road transport.

Climate financing and rebates on equipment aimed at transitioning to green tourism are imperative from government, banks and other financing agencies. This financial assistance is crucial given the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism industry. A government led comprehensive policy is also needed to nudge more companies towards carbon neutral growth.

Source: How tourism towns can do better on carbon emissions (01/09/20)

Victoria Falls outlines green tourism vision

VICTORIA Falls has a vision to become Africa’s green tourism destination hence the decision by tourism players in the resort town to adopt environmentally friendly policies.

The tourism players revealed this during a Press briefing here on Saturday where they called for collective involvement of business, civic groups, citizens and Government towards keeping the resort town in its pristine state. The Press conference was organised for Inyathi High School pupil Nkosilathi Nyathi (16) who was recently in Madrid, Spain where he represented Zimbabwe and Africa as an environment ambassador at the just ended United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25).

Greenline Africa trustee, Ms Charlene Hewat, said the future of tourism depends on sound environmental policies.

“The vision is for Victoria Falls to be Africa’s greening destination hence we need to adopt mitigation measures through partnerships between business and communities,” she said.

While stakeholders stated that the Zambezi River was unlikely to dry up as portrayed by foreign media, they said serious mitigatory measures should be taken to keep the environment in its natural state in light of changes that are taking place because of climate change. Ms Hewat said recent reports about Vic Falls being dry had adversely affected tourism hence the need for pro-active measures.

“Victoria Falls is not dry. Zambezi is the oldest river in the world and will never dry up. The catchment area is already receiving rain and soon the river will start filling up. People should understand that it is seasonal and every year it dries up on the Zambian side. All we need to do is look at what we use so that no human activities affect the river flow,” she said. 

“Conservation agriculture is the way to go so that we help each other maintain our environment.”

An environmental-agricultural expect and Igugu Trust proprietor, Mrs Precious Phiri, who is Africa’s representative at Re-Generation International Global Network who also attended Cop25, called on policy makers to involve communities in environment management.

“Climate change is real and impacts on rainfall patterns, which then affects our tourism because it is flora and fauna based. If you note, deserts are advancing hence we need to engage communities around Victoria Falls so that they understand environmental issues,” she said. 

“Our policy making should involve communities because eco-tourism should start  with communities.”

Mrs Phiri said tourism should not just be consumeristic but productive and conservative such as engaging in projects like beekeeping, gardening and other waste management projects.

“Now it’s time to rethink agriculture because it’s no longer business as usual in light of climate change. We need regenerative agriculture with participation of Government, civic society and all citizens,” she said.

Nkosilathi, who did his primary education at Chamabondo in Victoria Falls, started environment work by posting videos to raise awareness on air pollution and waste management. He focused on air pollution in the coal mining town of Hwange and waste management in Victoria Falls. The two videos caught the attention of Greenline Africa and Unicef leading to his selection to represent the country at COP25 where he made a presentation about waste management activities in Zimbabwe.

Nkosilathi urged Government to involve youths in environment management programmes so that they grow up appreciating the importantce of protecting the environment. — @ncubeleon

Source: Victoria Falls outlines green tourism vision (18/12/19)

Tourism partners initiate Victoria Falls recycling scheme

An ambitious project by a local hospitality group is going to make Zimbabwe’s prime resort area, Victoria Falls a green and sustainable city.

Victoria Falls Recycling, an initiative of Africa Albida Tourism (AAT) in partnership with Greenline Africa, Victoria Falls Municipality and PetrecoZim, is working with various stakeholders among them local hotels, lodges, residents and retailers to ensure a clean, healthy and safe environment for future generations.

AAT group operations manager Andy Conn said Victoria Falls Recycling was the result of growing concerns by the hospitality group’s directors that Victoria Falls town, the home of one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was losing the battle against plastic.

“Following some heart-wrenching incidents in which a number of elephants died with traces of plastic in their digestive systems, certain companies and individuals funded the electrified fencing of the municipal dumpsite. The next step was to create a recycling centre,” Conn said.

“Africa Albida Tourism engaged Charlene Hewat to spearhead the Victoria Falls Recycling project, which has played a massive role in eliminating plastic, glass, paper/cardboard and cans from the dumpsite. These materials are baled and removed from Victoria Falls. The goal, however, is to create a local, sustainable industry to manufacture useable items such as bricks and crafts from the recyclable waste that we collect.”

According to AAT, Victoria Falls was growing and it was crucial that as much waste as possible is recycled, thus reducing the amount of litter on the streets and waste landing on the dumpsite.

Victoria Falls Recycling has collected and baled more than 24 tonnes of waste for recycling in its first nine months of operation.

The waste includes 9,4 tonnes of paper and cardboard, 8,8 tonnes of plastics, nearly 3 tonnes of glass, 1,2 tonnes of kaylite, 926kg of cans and 730kg of Tetra Pak packaging.

Moreblessing Ndlovu, a supervisor at Victoria Fall Recycling, said the project had empowered several youth and women apart from improving cleanliness in the resort area.

Ndlovu said hotels separate their waste at source before bringing it for recycling at the centre.

She said every month they produce 10 bales of paper weighing up to 250kg each, as well as up to a tonne of PET plastic which comes from the dumpsite.

Hewat, a prominent conservationist said under the project Victoria Falls should become one of the cleanest towns in the Kavango Zambezi (KAZA) Transfrontier Conservation Area.

She expressed concern that Zimbabweans were no longer serious about protecting the environment.

“I remember when we were kids, we were called litterbugs if we polluted,” Hewat said.

“But now we see kids and people in fancy cars throwing papers, including our Parliamentarians who were here in Victoria Falls recently littering everywhere. I am sorry, but if they (MPs) can’t get it right how about ordinary Zimbabweans?”

Hewat said despite such setbacks, Victoria Falls Recycling was working well with the Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Council of Tourism and Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce among other stakeholders who have adopted areas to clean up.

“There is a buy-in from everyone to make Victoria Falls the cleanest and greenest tourism destination in Africa,” she said.

Hewat said the project has grown rapidly and will relocate to a bigger site to be provided by the municipality soon.

She said waste collected was being send to bigger recycling plants in Harare and South Africa where it is turned into plastic bags, clothing and fuel.

Hewat said they have a holding bay in Bulawayo where processed waste is stored before being exported to South Africa.

“But we will be starting paper recycling here once we get the bigger space from the local authority and we will also look into how to make furniture using waste paper,” she said.

Hewat said Victoria Falls Recycling was also into tree planting to make the resort town greener.

She said the project was looking into making roof tiles using aluminum cans while empty bottles were now being turned into water glasses, chandeliers and candle holders among other things which are being sold to hotels and tourists.

Victoria Falls Recycling was also looking into making artefacts from waste.

Source: Vic Falls on path to become green city (23/11/19)

Luxury meets sustainability at AAT

The Victoria Falls Safari Estate Lodge under the Africa Albida Tourism (AAT) group has introduced an environmentally friendly natural water system that purifies water on site through a three stage water filtration system placed into glass bottles for various use.

The re-usable glass water bottles have replaced plastic bottles as part of the group’s measures to protect the environment. The move is also a major step towards the hospitality group’s goal of going single use plastic free by 2021.

In a statement, the group’s chief executive officer, Mr Ross Kennedy said their aim was to reduce plastic pollution to zero by year 2030.

“We shall now aim to reduce and then remove as much other plastic as possible from our operations, to a point in 2021 where there is hopefully zero, for example, plastic laundry bags, plastic shopping bags and other plastic bottles, such as juice bottles.

“It is important as a responsible business to keep pace with world trends in all conservation issues, where possible as what are already doing with the Victoria Falls Recycling project. We have researched and talked to colleagues before making informed decisions,” he said.

Mr Kennedy said the initiative to go plastic free carries with it many benefits like employment creation and reduce harm to wildlife.

“The impact of this initiative has many benefits. There will be over 80,000 less plastic bottles going out into the environment, and with less plastic in circulation that can find its way into the wild and therefore potentially harm wildlife, especially elephants.”

Abandoning plastic use, Mr Kennedy said has a major impact on waste management as it will reduce plastic waste most due to a lot of mineral water bottles.

“There is also benefit of reduced cost of water to our guests by providing water dispensers so guests may fill up their own water bottles to take away when going on activities, and by selling aluminium bottles in its souvenir shop,” he said.

The development comes at a time the Africa Albida launched the Victoria Falls Recycling project which recycles plastics, paper, glass and beverage cans which has helped lodges like the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge Estate to stop using plastic straws and adopting eco-friendlier paper straws.

Victoria Falls Recycling was launched last year in March by the AAT in partnership with Greenline Africa, Victoria Falls Municipality and PetrecoZiM. It has so faR baled and collected more than 24 tonnes of waste for recycling in its first year of operation.

AAT operates a portfolio of properties in Victoria Falls namely Victoria falls Safari Club, Victoria Falls Safari Suits, Lokuthula Lodges and The Boma- Dinner and Drum show as well as Ngoma Safari Lodge in Chobe, Botswana.

Over the years, AAT has undertaken a number of projects aimed at improving, promoting and safeguarding local tourism, particularly in Victoria Falls and surrounding areas like Hwange.

Source: Luxury meets sustainability at AAT (23/06/19)

Victoria Falls Recycling scheme expands

AFRICA Albida Tourism (AAT) is inten­sifying efforts to bolster the allure of one of the world’s seven wonders by keeping Victoria Falls clean through waste man­agement.

The Victoria Falls Recycling (VFR) project is aimed at recycling waste in the town, thereby reducing the amount of litter on the streets and the volume of waste going to the dumpsite.

The project is expected to spread to household level this month following the success of the initial stage which targeted collecting recyclable waste at commercial sites.

Sponsored by AAT and co-ordinated by a local environmental conservation­ist, Charlene Hewat, the VFR project has already had an impact in protecting the environment.

Furthermore, it has become a form of employment and money making venture for Victoria Falls residents. It employs locals who collect waste and are paid per kilogramme.

The success story of the VFR project has seen it scooping three awards only a year after its launch. These include the Association of Zimbabwe Travel Agents’ Industry Environment Award (Septem­ber 2018) and the Recycling Champion of the Year Award by the Corporate Social Responsibility Network Zimba­bwe (November 2018).

Last month, the initiative got interna­tional recognition by winning the Engage Africa Award at “We Are Africa”, a lead­ing travel show in Cape Town.

“We are Africa” awards celebrate the best in independent and brilliantly exe­cuted travel ideas.

Launched in March last year, VFR has so far collected more than 24 tonnes of paper, plastics, glass, beverage cans and packaging for recycling, among others.

Collected waste is further recycled in Harare and South Africa to make plastic bags and piping, among other things.

Hewat, who is the project co-ordina­tor, said the success of the initial plan has made them realise the importance of spreading the project.

“We initially began operations recy­cling paper and plastics. Collection at source is the focus of the project and we started off with hotels, lodges and restaurants. We will move to household collection mid-2019,” she said.

Since Victoria Falls does not have a proper landfill site, plans to expand the project are moving at a fast pace, although a few technicalities still need to be cleared.

“We have done a MoU with the council and it has gone through the first stage of clearance. Two stages now remain. We will be expanding once we secure the land. Right now, the place we are working on is too small for the bigger project,” she explained.

Through the project, recyclable goods will be collected from the Victoria Falls community. Materials that will be recy­cled include glass and beverage cans.

Other partners in the waste collec­tion initiative include the Victoria Falls Municipality, Greenline Africa Trust and Petreco Zim.

Over the years, AAT has undertaken a number of projects aimed at improving, promoting and safeguarding local tour­ism, particularly in Victoria Falls and surrounding areas like Hwange.

The hospitality giant is also involved in anti-poaching campaigns.

AAT chief executive Ross Kennedy is glad that their ingenuities are continuing to receive recognition.

“We are immensely proud to be involved in the founding, funding and operation of VFR. The next stage is to build a new recycling centre, where a retail outlet will also be set up to sell products created from recycled waste,” revealed Kennedy.

“Tourism is a lucrative business that nonetheless requires players in the trade to be proactive so as to stay ahead of the game.”

Last year, AAT won the Achievement in Marketing Award.

Source: Africa Albida Tourism kicks right again (09/06/19)

Ilala Lodge goes green

In celebration of World Environment Day 2019, a new environmentally-focused committee has been introduced at Ilala Lodge Hotel to advance sustainable tourism practices in Victoria Falls.

The Green Team of Ilala Lodge Hotel endeavours to address and implement environmentally-conscious initiatives. The committee is headed-up by Tapiwa Masawi and Amy Clements and includes a member of staff from each department at Ilala Lodge Hotel.

"The Green Team committee aims to deliver practical solutions towards more environmentally-friendly practises. We have kick-started the initiative by presenting a sustainable Waste Management Plan at Greenline Africa and Victoria Falls Municipality's monthly meeting held on the 4th June 2019," said Amy Clements.

Ilala Lodge Hotel has been recognised as a Silver member of the Green Tourism certification programme since 2016, which identifies the commitment of tourism businesses that actively work to become more sustainable.

"As a Green Tourism Silver member, we are committed to being as ‘eco-friendly' as possible in an effort to preserve and protect our surroundings. By establishing a team of employees passionate about their environment, we hope this takes us a step closer to reaching our ultimate goal of the Green Tourism Gold membership!" added Amy.

Source: New Committee progresses green tourism in Victoria Falls (05/06/19)

Vic Falls resumes solar street lighting project

VICTORIA FALLS Municipality has resolved to resume its solar street-lighting project in May, following the promulgation of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act.

Town clerk, Ronnie Dube said 100 solar street lights will be installed at a cost of $250 000.

“We are guided by the new public regulation [Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act], which strictly suspended all the 2017 projects with effect from January 1, but we will resume in May or June. Our residents need to be patient. Our main priority areas are high-density suburbs, that is, Chinotimba and Mkhosana together with the central business district,” he said.

“Residents must understand that the solar street lights being put at CBZ stands belong to CBZ development project. We still have their street lights and theirs too will be installed soon, they must not think that we used their money to put those lights.

“In the near future, we want to go green completely as a town and we believe that will be a success along as people pay their bills and it will help us reduce tariffs charges.”

Another project, which had been put on hold, was the installation of pre-paid water meters.

Dube said residents owed council over $9 million, hence the decision to install pre-paid meters.

“It is an expensive project, but we have to do it because it is an inevitable technology that is there and it is going to assist us in our debt collection strategy and avoid ballooning debts, which is sitting at over $9 million,” he said. “Pre-paid meters will also help us to calculate and dictate non-revenue water leakage and be able to attend to it effectively,” he said.

Source: Vic Falls resumes solar street lighting project (27/03/18)

Victoria Falls Launches A Major Recycling Project

Victoria Falls is going greener with the launch of its very own recycling project, which is expected to have a major impact in protecting the environment around one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

Victoria Falls town is growing rapidly, and it is crucial that as much waste as possible is recycled and composted, thus reducing the amount of litter on the streets and the volume of waste going to the dumpsite.

Victoria Falls Recycling (VFR), an initiative sponsored by leading Zimbabwean hospitality group Africa Albida Tourism (AAT), and co-ordinated by well- known local environmental conservationist Charlene Hewat, launched this week.

Ms Hewat said the initiative, which is supported by Greenline Africa Trust, Petreco Zim and Victoria Falls Municipality, had begun operations, initially, recycling paper and plastics from eight hotels.

Paper and thin plastics will be sent to Harare where they will be recycled to make plastic bags and piping, while thicker plastics, such as water bottles, will be sent to a recycling plant in South Africa, Ms Hewat said.

Within a year the project is expected to expand to include the recycling of glass and beverage cans, as well as taking recyclable goods from the wider Victoria Falls community, Ms Hewat said.

As the project develops, it will also include tourism operators in surrounding areas, such as Hwange National Park, who are keen to participate.

There are no other recycling plants in the resort town, and this initiative is expected to have a major impact, she said.

“Around 80 per cent of waste is recyclable or compostable, so should not be going to the dumpsite at all. If we can reduce the amount of waste going to the dumpsite, and do it in a manner that creates jobs, and, also improves the environment, I believe recycling is the key,” Ms Hewat said.

The operation has been set up as a community-based project with locals trained to operate the machines, sort waste, bale, load and manage the project – with the aim of creating a fully sustainable recycling program in Victoria Falls.

VFR is operating from an AAT-owned site in the industrial area of the resort town, but as the project develops it will relocate to a larger recycling area which has been designated by the Victoria Falls Municipality.

Ms Hewat, an experienced conservationist, has been contracted by AAT as a consultant to the group’s expanding corporate social responsibility program, with VFR being the first major project to launch under her watch.

AAT chief executive Ross Kennedy said the group was thrilled to have a conservationist of Charlene’s calibre on board to guide AAT in its corporate social responsibility program.

“The recycling project is a great initiative, which will have a hugely positive impact on the Victoria Falls community, and as tackling environmental and conservation challenges has always been a priority for us, we look forward to working on more ventures together,” Mr Kennedy said.

AAT operates a portfolio of properties in Victoria Falls, including Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, Victoria Falls Safari Club, Victoria Falls Safari Suites, Lokuthula Lodges, and Ngoma Safari Lodge in Chobe, Botswana.

Source: Victoria Falls Launches A Major Recycling Project (15/03/18)