Sustainability

The Sustainability programme leads the way in creating more eco-friendly lifestyle choices for those on the reserve, and within our sphere of influence. The main focus of the Sustainability programme is to reduce refuse, decrease energy and water consumption, and procure local goods. The practices developed to achieve these set an example to our neighbouring communities and we encourage and assist them to achieve these too.

The programme includes:

Over 85% refuse recycled

90% decrease in plastic water bottle usage

75% reduction in firewood used for incinerators

Rethink, reduce, reuse and recycle

Waste is cleaned and separated into five categories. This is then collected and transported, via backloads on procurement runs, to a recycling facility in Harare.

In recent years we have achieved sending 85-90% of our refuse for recycling.
The Nappy Project created an alternative to disposable nappies. Modern, reusable, fitted nappies are available for purchase at a reduced bulk-cost price. Within a year over 1 000 modern nappies were purchased, and the weight of disposable nappies waste went down by 75%.
Water purification systems have been installed in an effort to eliminate the use of plastic water bottles in favour of stainless-steel and glass water bottles.
Packaging from fresh produce is cleaned and sent back to local farmers for reuse.
Since inception we have achieved an over 90% decrease in plastic water bottle use.

Energy efficiency

We focus on reducing energy consumption by monitoring vehicle use and fossil fuel consumption, installing LED lighting, replacing geysers with solar water heaters and using energy-efficient air cooling.

We are also working on establishing a renewable energy solution to provide the bulk of our energy requirements.

Water usage

Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve is situated in a water-scarce area. Education is ongoing to conserve water and minimise use. Water consumption is monitored, and irrigation management practices are in place.

A water harvesting system is in development.