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Dirtiest or cleanest towns receive trophies

2017-05-29  Staff Report 2

Dirtiest or cleanest towns receive trophies
…motivation to stay clean Obrein Simasiku Omuthiya The environment ministry has initiated a cleaning campaign across the country, in which villages, town councils, regions and communities win trophies for having the cleanest region or town. The aim is for Namibia to reclaim its title as the country with Africa’s cleanest towns and cities. Currently that title belongs to Rwanda, whose capital city, Kigali, is reputedly the cleanest on the continent. The idea is for the cleanest or dirtiest village or town to receive a trophy with the picture of the town’s leaders on it, to indicate the dirtiest or cleanest town. This, the environment ministry argues, would compel leaders in the town or village to rally their communities to keep the town clean. The Deputy Minister of Environment and Tourism, Tommy Nambahu, spoke about the campaign idea at the launch of the 2017 regional cleanliness campaign that started in Omuthiya last Friday. The event was organised in conjunction with Recycle Namibia Forum and Omuthiya Town Council. “The campaign aims to instil a sense of responsibility in our communities and educate them about the importance of keeping Namibia clean. We want our people to understand that a polluted environment is not just bad for our health as human beings but has serious negative effects on our social and economic status,” Nambahu emphasised. He added that tourism was one of the key contributors to our country’s economy and if the environment was not kept clean, foreign visitors might not be keen to come to Namibia anymore, which would deprive the country of earnings from tourism. Nambahu said the slogan for the campaign is ‘let’s make Namibia a trash bin, let’s bin it,’ which denotes that it is everyone’s responsibility to keep their environment clean. “The tendency of throwing bottles and other litter through the windows of our cars should be discouraged. Let's have a plastic bag in cars for the waste and wait until you find a dust bin to place your waste,” he said. In addition, Nambahu encouraged the use of what he termed the ‘RRR principles’, which advocate reducing, reusing and recycling waste. “Recycling is one of the best ways for us to have a positive impact on the environment in which we live. In many areas, there is no space for waste because the dumping sites are full. “Countries have also realised that recycling reduces financial expenditure in the economy because making products from raw materials cost much more than if they were made from recycled products,” he explained.
2017-05-29  Staff Report 2

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