In Zimbabwe, the municipal authorities of KweKwe will set up a unit that will be a long-term model for waste-to-energy conversion. The project is supported by the government as part of the nationwide clean-up campaign.
It is a plant much awaited in Zimbabwe. The initiative which benefits from the support of the government is a project of the municipality of KweKwe. The plant will be located on a 50-hectare site near the municipality’s wastewater treatment plant in Dutchman’s Pools.
Lucia Mnklanda, KweKwe’s municipal secretary, said the project will provide electricity from waste to the people of the township in the long term. It is a considerable progress in this East African country where the rate of access to electricity is about 41.1% according to the World Bank in 2019. For his part, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Nqobizhita Ndlovu said the future waste-to-energy plant will be state of the art to incinerate both general and hazardous waste.
Zimbabwe produces 1.7 million tons of solid waste annually, according to the Environmental Management Agency (EMA). In this context, waste collection and recovery has become a priority for the government. The country is undergoing a massive nationwide clean-up campaign led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
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In April 2021, Zimbabwean authorities approved a waste-to-energy project in the city of Bulawayo. The project by UK-based Pragma Leaf Consulting will process 325 tons of waste per day, generating 78,000 to 110,000 liters of diesel per day, 60 m3 of biogas and 11.35 MW of electricity.
Benoit-Ivan Wansi
