By Joel Phiri

Mzimba, January 17, Mana: Mzimba residents have applauded M'mbelwa District Council for embarking on a special garbage collection operation which has resulted in clean residential and business environments.

A resident of Chanthomba location, Maxwell Banda said for a long time he has been observing trends of uncollected garbage around Mzimba Boma which was giving bad image of the town.

"Coming in town to do business, one could see mountains of uncollected garbage, but for the past one week the town looks great and nice," said Banda.

Banda wished the Council could be clearing garbage often so that the trading centre should not be a host to uncollected mounds of garbage.

Another resident, Alison Gondwe of St Pauls location said councils should not wait for garbage to mount for them to move in.

"We pay taxes and councils should ensure that citizens live in good environments. Now the council has cleaned most areas where was stinking smell due to rotten materials," said Gondwe.

General Secretary for marketing committee in the district, Julious Dongo Zgambo said the markets have a lot of areas that need cleaning.

"We have seen the Council deploying a tractor to clear most garbage which is commendable but there are still some areas the Council should still do the clear up exercises including a section where young people operate barbershops,” said Zgambo.

He said there were broken toilets and water pavements which the Council needs to repair.

In a separate interview, Principal Environmental Officer for Mmbelwa District Council, James Pelani, acknowledged that the Council has been unable to collect garbage but has started to clear up garbage to its dump site.

"The works will continue and we will do it in almost all trading centres. Last week we collected at Jenda Trading Centre and now we just completed Mzimba Market.

"Our aim is to ensure traders operate in good environments but let them also take care of their environment by avoiding dumping wastes anyhow. Together we can achieve the cleanliness of our trading Centre’s", said Pelani.