“I think the ban is a very good thing,” Charlene Hewat, a respected environmentalist, told The Herald Business Friday, by phone.
Food-related waste from industry and commerce reached nearly 150 000 tonnes per year countrywide in 2011, according to a 2015 solid waste report by EMA.
Uncollected solid waste is usually a key contributor to flooding in cities and towns, and to air and water pollution.
Now, EMA has tried to bring order in the (mis)use of a popular packaging product that it has branded an environmental nuisance, one threatening public health, officials say.
But even Ms Hewat is disappointed at the manner the kaylite ban has come into force, appearing to surprise an uniformed and unprepared market.
The Environmental Management Agency in 2012 passed a law banning the use of kaylite, as packaging material in supermarkets, restaurants and in fast food shops.
“There are potential health impacts from polystyrene foam food packaging associated with its production and with the leaching of some of its chemical components into food and drink,” the regulator contends.
According to a 2015 World Bank report, ‘What a Waste’, Zimbabweans in towns and cities produced an average 2 356 tonnes of garbage every day or 859 940 per year- enough waste to fill the entire surface area of seven football pitches.
Over 7,5 million people will be staying in towns and cities here within the next decade, compared to the current 4,4 million, said the report.
However, the whole process produces greenhouse gases at every stage – from the carbon generated by vehicles collecting garbage to the methane generated at landfills and dumpsites.