Glen View Community Reclaims Public Space: From Waste to Value

Glen View community together with multiple stakeholders are spearheading a clean-up of public space in Harare’s Glen View suburb. Glen View is an area long plagued by pollution and recurrent cholera outbreaks.

The area of focus is that near to Glen View 8 Primary and Glen View 3 Secondary schools, where thousands of children travel daily to learn.

The initiative started with a visit on Wednesday this week in Glen View 8, where City of Harare, the Environmental Management Agency (EMA), Ward 30 Councillor Charles Chidhagu, District Officer Mr Kuda Mupingashato, community members, and the project’s coordinators assessed the state of the neighbourhood. Observations highlighted critical levels of land, air, and water pollution – posing severe health risks to residents, especially children attending nearby schools.

The community includes teachers and parents from the local schools who will drive ongoing, rapid removal of hazardous waste, so that the reclaimed spaces can be transformed into safe and valuable places for their children.

“We are mobilising widespread action to support Glen View to remove solid waste dumpsites. We want children at the centre of the story. Glen View is the epicentre of cholera outbreaks. The community has been forgotten. We’re looking to unite care in our communities to start here and make a positive impact to transform solid waste dumpsites into spaces where children can play — safely, and with dignity,” said Jenna Hutchings, one of the coordinators. 

The clean-up campaign yesterday coincided with the National Clean-up, marking the start of their bold efforts. The community will work to remove one dumpsite at a time, where the team share a creative vision for reclaiming the affected land.

“We will plant sunflowers, which naturally remove toxins from the soil whilst also being pretty. Then, once the area has had a little time, we will replace them with child-friendly spaces to create value where the dumps originally were,” Hutchings said.

As a representative of the group, Hutchings believes the plan will only be successful with “collective action for composting, recycling, better timetabling for waste services by COH, air pollution monitors, water conservation and wetland protection, as well as tree planting.”

Glen View has historically faced challenges beyond their control due to a highly dense urban population, unsustainable and insufficient waste collection services, and a lack of community resources. 

The campaign aims to change that narrative, and the plan represents a multi-faceted approach centering children at the heart of the community’s mission to deliver change, whilst combining environmental protection and community development.