Embrace circular economy for Zimbabwe development

The demographics of Zimbabwe are largely defined by two distinct economic groups- those living within the cities and those in the farms and communal areas.

Over the past few decades there has been a continual influx of people migrating to towns for employment opportunities and better livelihoods.

Some of the people have created or joined informal settlements which have inadequate basic amenities such as water, electricity, sanitation and waste management.

The national development of Zimbabwe has seen the growth in various construction and housing projects in most areas, this is irreversible as infrastructure is key to the growth of any economy.

In regards to agriculture; it is the mainstream of the economy with majority of families and households having been raised or supported through farming in one way or another.

However,due to various factors such as global pandemics, climate change, lack of generational continuity in farming as a business and logistical challenges, agriculture has since been unable to fully provide the sufficient nutrition to citizens and to the expected livelihoods of farmers.

The Circular Economy is a modern economic system which seeks to minimize the production of waste or pollution by circulating materials at a higher quality within the production system.

It is a broad system which covers food, agriculture, textiles, plastics, e-waste and the built environment.

The principles represent a valuable approach which addresses conventional challenges, creating employment and providing localized solutions to daily challenges.

The pivotal point which will reduce the sustainable development gap of Zimbabwe to the leading economies can be enacted by skills development and awareness of the green circular economy from the grass-roots.

This includes the introduction and conscientising of the principles in the national education curriculum, so that the courses and training are available at all levels of the education spectrum.

This provides a baseline for the circular economy to be promoted and for continuous research and innovation to be carried out in Zimbabwe.

Modern infrastructure designs and innovations are key, these may include;

• The use of local materials in urban construction projects. There is need for the local artisans and organizations who manufacture or design construction materials to put more focus on innovation on how the developed economies are designing similar materials.

Adopting similar models and suiting them to the local climatic conditions whilst remaining competitive in business. It is very important for indigenous businesses and entrepreneurs to invest more in skills development and online free trainings which may broaden their scopes and lines of business.

• Incorporating bio-climatic and passive design, resource capture. The local architects, planners and engineers should look to introduce modern plans which seek to use natural conditions to cool, heat, light and ventilate buildings using the minimal use conventional energy sources. Emphasizing on paying attention to climatic realities. The Eastgate mall in Harare is a renowned example of a bioclimate and passive design, regionally with the Africa Center in South Africa also a notable reference. Both of them also constructed using locally sourced materials and harnessing natural light and ventilation.
• Creating natural ecosystems which co-exist and function with infrastructure in towns, the Circular economy differs in the pro-conservative aspect which may inhibit infrastructural development in the cities, however, there are various innovations and designs which can be made as we cannot despise the benefits which are derived from nature such as fresh air, natural aesthetic value, shed, habitation for birds amongst many organisms. There will be need to innovate and design hybrid-grey infrastructure such as natural landscaping, chemical free recyclable waterfalls, agro-forestry.
• Drainage issues and flooding in the cities in Zimbabwe are a great concern,

This is a result of most infrastructure being constructed along water ways and in valleys,During the rainy season most houses are seen to be experiencing the worst situations. This is being experienced in Harare North particularly the newly developed suburbs’ of Gletwin and Shawasha. The Circular economy addresses such issue during the planning stage, for example through the introduction of sustainable drainage systems which support water drainage, infiltration or capture and reduce the flooding in towns and areas being zones for residential and industrial development. Within the African region,this has been successfully designed and implemented by Ethiopia in the Biruh Tesfah precinct, Addis Ababa and the Msambazi river in Dar-es-alam, Tanzania.

The cost of living has been increasing within the region and recently globally due to various factors such as climate change as most countries are now experiencing lower than normal rainfall, the recent Covid-19 pandemic which disturbed streams of incomes for families, amongst other geo-political factors. Hence, there is need for most local households, small enterprises to embrace de-centralized renewable energy systems which are low maintenance and address daily costs of electricity and LP gas. The electricity distribution patterns have also been really affected as a result of climate change as we base on hydro-power generation for electricity in Zimbabwe. By practicing the circular economy, we have the solutions to our power challenges in a cheaper and reliable manner; which is very pivotal due to the high costs of living.

Below are some of the practical applications of the Circular economy for the ordinary Zimbabweans both in the cities and the communal areas.

• Design the sewer system on a family household or compound to produce methane biogas for cooking. In this design, all the human waste, food waste, vegetable residues and excess water is channeled into a biodigester in the premises. The family can utilise the gas daily for cooking and eliminate the costs of purchasing LP gas and electricity on a daily basis.
• The by-product of the household biodigester is liquid fertilizer, which can be used to irrigate vegetable gardens, flowers, lawns on the compound. Thus also reducing the monthly water bill.
• On farm setups,the waste produced by livestock can also be fed into a biodigester system to produce gas for cooking and heating, with the liquid fertilizer being utilized to irrigate crops.

Tichakunda Kudzai Maposa is an environmental  and sustainable development expert. He can be contacted  for feedback on WhatsApp +250790003612 and on genmaphosa@gmail.com .