Harare — Green bomber flies buzz and summersault effortlessly on a huge mound of rubbish, an assortment of rotten food, empty cans and plastic that have been heaping in the alley for several weeks.

Wind blows, wafting a bad smell out of the alley into the street sending all passers-by frowning in response to the pungent smell that almost provokes puking among the light-hearted.

"This council . . . when is it ever going to collect this rubbish," comes the comment from almost every passerby.

Over the past decade, Zimbabwean companies were languishing in deep financial constraints emanating from the economic meltdown caused by the illegal economic sanctions imposed by Britain and her allies.

In the hyper-inflationary environment and economic quagmire that ensued, profits of many corporates dwindled significantly or alternatively diminished such that many had to abandon their social responsibilities in engaging in community development projects that included refuse collection. Attention was thus focused on keeping the companies afloat.

The City of Harare, which had over the years, been assisted by companies in dealing with refuse collection and clean up campaigns suddenly became a serious liability to the health of the residents with mounds of uncollected garbage growing as each day passed.

Today, the positive economic environment obtaining in the country due to the introduction of a multi-currency regime seems to be resetting the tone for corporate social responsibility.

In that light, companies are now re-engaging in their social programmes for the benefit of the communities in which they operate.

In applauding this kind of gesture and bravery by the companies, the efforts made by Delta Beverages need not go unmentioned. The company recently extended a US$1 million waste management project to the City of Harare.

This project is meant to assist the city in waste management. It will focus on collecting garbage with a view to creating a clean environment for the residents of Harare.

Before coming up with this initiative, Delta Beverages had contracted Bitcon to collect refuse in some parts of the city namely Dzivaresekwa, Kambuzuma, Kuwadzana, Mbare, Mufakose and Warren Park.

As part of the aforementioned plan, Delta has also erected can collection cages as part of its waste management programme. In his inaugural speech launching the programme, Mr George Mutendadzamera, Delta Beverages general manager for corporate affairs, noted that "the can collection initiative is a proactive way we came up with to complement our other waste management initiatives."

To date, 10 centres are fully operational with a roll out of a further 25 expected over the next three months and plans are underway to crush and recycle the cans. They are also undertaking research on how best to dispose empty opaque beer containers.

This can initiative is a noble programme par excellence, as research has revealed that cans are fast becoming an environmental hazard in Harare. This non-decomposing refuse is dumped everywhere on most inconvenient and undesignated areas thus putting a huge dent on the city fathers' attempts to restore Harare's sunshine city status.

The timely nature of the project renders it crucial as it has come when the City of Harare is facing serious challenges related to garbage collection.

According to the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Emmanuel Chiroto, the noble project has come at a time when the City Council is facing challenges in delivering services.

"The issue of refuse collection continues to be a challenge to the city due to lack of equipment to use in refuse collection as well as obsolete machinery. The department of waste management has quite a number of programmes and projects aimed at improving waste removal, which are facing difficulties to take-off due to lack of resources.

"Therefore, the coming of Delta Beverages enhances the capacity of the Harare City Council to collect refuse," the Deputy Mayor said.

The project will also help the council to prevent the recurrence of cholera. This impacts positively on residents who suffered immensely from the deadly pandemic in 2008.

Most significantly, this project seems to be a timeous response to calls by Dr Ignatius Chombo, the Minister of Local Government, Urban and Rural Development for corporates to assist the Harare City Council in refuse collection to prevent the recurrence of the cholera epidemic.

As chairman of the Cholera Prevention Taskforce, Dr Chombo also commended Delta Beverages for the wonderful project as it fulfills his appeal for the business community to play a part in waste management.

The importance of the project can also be seen from an environmentalist perspective.

The removal of waste prevents air pollution in that the mounds of uncollected rubbish have the potential to produce a pungent smell that pollutes the air.

The removal of waste does not only clean the environment but also promotes the circulation of fresh air in the city. Besides pollution, garbage also produces greenhouse gases like methane and carbon-dioxide which are detrimental to the ozone layer resulting in catastrophes like global warming and climatic changes which threaten human society and livelihoods.

As noted by Mr Mutendadzamera: "Across the world, environmental awareness is the way to go and every responsible business must take into consideration environmental concerns.

This environmental clean-up will ultimately change the landscape of Harare and help restore the sunshine status, lost over the past decade.

The gesture by Delta has also set the motion for private-public partnerships, which have been affected by the illegal sanctions. It is high time that more companies emulate this gesture of responsibility engaging institutions involved in public service like councils.

Councils need assistance from corporates to effect community development projects. According to Minister Chombo, the development of road infrastructure should be a shared responsibility between the private and public sectors as it ensures an improved quality of life.

"Business should come in to supplement the efforts of the city in areas to do with refuse collection," noted Minister Chombo.

As it rolls out the plan, Delta intends to expand the project to other urban centres throughout the country. In his remarks Mr Mutendadzamera said: "We will not be confined to Harare alone.

"We want national coverage. We were fighting for our own survival. Now that we are recovering, we are extending to our strategic partners."

Such gracious efforts will restore Delta's status as a chief player in community development. The company has a long history in investing in communities through programmes like the Coca-Cola Under 20 High schools tournament, Chibuku Road to Fame and many others.