Chinese may produce electricity from Lusaka garbage

Sat, 31 Dec 2016 13:04:26 +0000

By MAILESI BANDA

 GOVERNMENT is studying a proposed memorandum of understanding from the Chinese government which when signed will see garbage being used to produce electricity, Lusaka Province Minister Japhen Mwakalombe has revealed.

Speaking in an interview with the Daily Nation, the minister said keeping the City of Lusaka clean without adding value to garbage would be impossible.

“It is not easy to make Lusaka clean without adding value to the garbage; when garbage has value people will not be throwing litter anyhow because this will be like throwing away money,’’ he said.

He said garbage would move from being a ‘‘nuisance to being a darling’’.

He advised residents to separate their litter by throwing tins, plastics and metal separately for the garbage to be recycled easily.

He revealed that a Chinese company recycling plastic is already operating in Lusaka and that the Government had plans of engaging a company that could recycle glass which is littering most bars in the city.

“We want to attract more investors to recycle plastics because they are blocking the drainage system in the city and causing the floods that have become a perennial problem,’’ he said.

He said just as buyers of scrap metal had reduced the number of people disposing off metal it was the Government’s hope that the project would regulate the disposal of garbage in the city.

“Since the issue of people dealing in scrap metal started, you rarely find scrap metal lying idle as people are getting into people’s yards and are taking any piece of metal they can find. We look forward to a time when we can find people being arrested for stealing garbage,’’ he said.

He said his plan was to make Lusaka cleaner and better, adding that the waste management strategy would help in accomplishing that.

“According to the information the Chinese have given us, Lusaka City Council alone will be able to produce 10 megawatts of power from the garbage collected and this will help cushion the electricity challenge the country faces,’’ he said.

He explained that the bi-products obtained from the production of electricity would be used for road construction and making blocks for building.

He said apart from electricity the project was expected to produce purified drinking water and would be operational in the next three years.