BCC fights back against litter as Croco Motors donates bins

The Chronicle

Angela Sibanda, Chronicle Reporter

A LOCAL company, Croco Motors, has partnered with the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) to change the culture of littering through a donation of bins that are set to be distributed across the city Centre.

On Friday, BCC received the donation of 50 bins from the company at the City Hall.

The donation comes when the city is making strides to restore its reputation of being one of the cleanest cities in the continent.

Since the reopening of businesses in the city after the covid-19 induced lockdowns that had forced people out of town, the city centre has seen growth in the number of unauthorised vendors on pavements and this has resulted in a demand for bins as most have adopted an unhygienic culture of throwing litter on sanitary lanes and drainages.

Croco Motors is a leading multi-franchised automotive company in Zimbabwe which deals with Nissan, Kia, Toyota, Ford, Eicher, Volvo, Renault and UD vehicles.

Addressing stakeholders during the handover ceremony, Croco Motors Group General Manager Operations, Mr Simon Chakoma said service providers had a role to play in the restoration of sanity in the city and giving back to the community.

“The emphasis is always to make sure that we work together with our customers and mainly give back to the community. At the moment, as service providers we need to change the culture of our people. The culture of being responsible is no longer there, people are just throwing litter everywhere which is a worrying factor. But of course, some cultures need to be forced to be changed and some you use persuasion which is what we are trying to do through this donation.”

“If it was possible, we could have donated a bin for each individual so that people take this seriously and become aware of the issues that we are trying to deal with through preaching the anti-littering gospel. As Croco Motors, our aim is to make sure that we put the bins at the closest place where someone walking in the streets is able to see the bin which might force them to throw litter inside,” said  Mr Chakoma.

He said the company will maintain the bins and keep a close eye to preserve their brand.

“At the moment we have 50 bins that will be doted around the city but we are not ending there, we will continue to work on those issues and make sure that we place a bin in each and every corner of the city and we are happy to do that because the bins are labelled with the Croco Motors logo. Which means the journey continues and we do not want to see these bins in a bad state so we will be coming in now and again with our guys to make sure that they are in a good state because it’s our brand,” he said.

Bulawayo Deputy Mayor Councillor Mlandu Ncube said the bins will go a long way in restoring the city’s sanity.

“The city endeavours to be a place where one can look down streets that are free of litter and walk easily without stepping on litter. We encourage residents to stop littering and dispose of waste appropriately. Many of us have got a habit of disposing litter right on the spot where we are sitting or standing and this pollutes our environment.

“We should all uphold hygiene standards and ensure that we use and recycle waste for a clean and tidy city. Cleanliness is a virtue and essential for good health and quality lifestyle in the difficult times that we are living in due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is important that we keep our environment clean to prevent the spread of diseases. success is also attributed to cleanliness hence the need to adopt it,” he said.

He said a clean city can be key to upgraded living standards through attracting tourists that bring revenue and he encouraged residents to be responsible.

“Let us also keep in mind that tourists have a strong inclination for a cleaner and hygienic destination, keeping our city clean can mean more tourists and better standards of living. Bulawayo is our home and we are all responsible for maintaining its cleanliness. Let us adopt measures that will embrace its cleanliness. These bins will go a long way in making Bulawayo the cleanest city in Zimbabwe,” said Cllr Ncube.

Article Source: The Chronicle

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