Zimbaweans use “Trash-Uber” to Get Rid of Their Garbage

The government in Zimbabwe has struggled to keep its capital city clean, leaving 10,000 tonnes piling up in the streets of Harare each month. Now, a local waste management company is stepping in with a mobile app solution, called the “Trash-Uber” by many.

The country is undergoing its worst economic crisis in ten years, causing trash cans to overflow for weeks at a time, with only two-thirds emptied each month. But Clean City Africa is providing a digital service that connects homes and offices with private waste collection firms.

The on-demand app Vaya Africa launched in July and its initiators collected rubbish for free in its first few months. Today, it charges a small fee for a customer to schedule garbage collections, explains Clean City Africa CEO Lovemore Nyatsine, covering more than 500,000 homes.

The company also plans to extend its services to other cities in Zimbabwe by the end of 2019.