Zimbabwe National Recycling Policy

Published on May 31, 2024

This is a policy to increase circularity in the production and post-consumer waste management system. The policy will support existing environmental legislation regulating safe disposal of unwanted waste targeting both producers and consumers, enacted in 2002.
The policy will breathe life to the Zimbabwe Integrated solid waste management plan launched in 2014, premised on a waste management hierarchy which promotes waste reduction, reusing and recycling with little landfilling.
Government has been working with civil society and private sector to bring sustainability in waste management through building symbiotic relationships between manufacturers and recyclers to ensure circularity.
The policy calls for compulsory waste segregation at source and promotes zero waste to the landfill through waste reduction, reuse and recycling. It hinges on enhanced waste recovery and communication linkages for smooth flow of material from point of generation to point of utilization.
The policy advocates for more livelihood options in the recycling value chain including the reprocessing and crafts sectors to derive maximum benefits from the materials formerly regarded as wastes.

The National Recycling Policy for Zimbabwe will support sustainable consumption and production systems by reducing the footprint relating to associated resultant pollution. Through the national legislation, all entities generating waste during production or through post-consumer waste, are to generate annual waste management plans detailing their waste reduction targets and strategies to achieve them. The policy bring together the attention of producers, consumers, civil society and recyclers towards beneficiating wastes as resources for the next step in a circular process. To support this, government has developed directory for all in the recycling value chain for ease access. The country is rolling out a National Zero Waste Campaign being championed by the First Lady and spouses of senior government officials, which is a behavior change campaign in line with the National Recycling Policy to enhance recovery of all post-consumer waste. The policy encourages the adoption of color coded bins for waste segregation at source at every business centre, institution, cluster houses and even homes to increase waster recovery efficiency. For efficient recovery of carbon locked in organic waste, the policy recommends composting and energy harvesting from all decomposing wastes.