Dar plans two-bin household waste system

DAR ES SALAAM: DAR ES SALAAM Region has announced plans for a new waste management framework requiring every household to maintain at least two bins to separate organic and recyclable waste at the source.

Regional Commissioner Albert Chalamila told media editors Thursday that the city is shifting from periodic cleanup drives to a permanent, policy-backed framework.

Under the new rules, all households in the East African port city will be required to maintain separate bins for recyclable and non-recyclable materials.

“We are moving away from temporary solutions,” Chalamila said, noting that public education campaigns will precede strict legal enforcement against illegal dumping.

As part of the overhaul, municipal cleaning contractors have been given three months to phase out manual sweeping and deploy modern mechanical cleaning equipment.

The region is also courting private developers to establish processing plants capable of converting municipal solid waste into cooking gas and electricity.

Chalamila stated that several prospective investors are currently undergoing operational evaluations.

He said the initiative forms part of a broader strategy to restore cleanliness across the region and establish a sustainable culture of proper waste management among residents.

“The system will go hand in hand with the installation of waste containers at bus stations, passenger boarding areas, schools, hospitals, public institutions, places of worship and other areas where people gather,” Mr Chalamila said.

He said the biggest challenge was not the absence of laws governing cleanliness and environmental management, but weak enforcement.

“Despite having good laws governing cleanliness and environmental management, we have also demonstrated the usual negligence of failing to enforce those laws,” he said.

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Mr Chalamila said district commissioners, council directors and other officials had been directed to ensure that areas prohibited for waste disposal or unauthorised business activities were properly controlled.

He said the region would first conduct public education campaigns to give residents enough time to understand the new requirements before authorities strengthen enforcement of the relevant laws.

The Regional Commissioner also directed contractors responsible for cleaning services to modernise their operations, saying a city as large and busy as Dar es Salaam could no longer rely mainly on brooms and manual labour.

He said the contractors had been given three months to begin using equipment capable of cleaning large areas more efficiently.

Beyond collection and disposal, the region also plans to promote investment in waste-processing technologies capable of converting waste into useful products, including gas and energy.

Mr Chalamila said the government was seeking partnerships with the private sector to attract investors into the sector, with some companies already expressing interest while operational procedures and assessments continue.

He said the reforms would only succeed if residents changed their attitudes towards waste management by separating, storing and disposing of waste properly.

“We must build a sustainable culture so that proper waste-management practices become part of our people’s daily habits,” he said.

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