Abstract

The study explores the comparative analysis of European Union (EU) and Zimbabwean municipal solid waste management (MSWM) regulations. A document analysis was done on available literature: acts, bylaws, directives, governmental reports, book chapters, and journal articles were analyzed. The internet was used to access all the documents. The study found that comprehensive MSWM legislation exists in both contexts. While the EU waste policy frameworks have shown remarkable progress, Zimbabwean waste policies have slowed their progress due to many challenges surrounding them. The EU legislation is in the form of directives, expectations, and ways forward, while the Zimbabwean legislation is in the form of acts and bylaws. Zimbabwean MSWM regulations follow the traditional linear approach, while the EU waste regulations follow a circular approach. The key differences between EU and Zimbabwean regulations are waste coverage, approach targets, law enforcement and penalties, cleaner production, legislative frameworks, policies, capacity building, and levels of education. The key similarities are in responsible authority, incentives, public involvement, and use of the polluter pays principle (PPP). The Zimbabwean MSWM regulations can be improved to match those of the EU by building strong enforcement capacities, providing capacity and resources, increasing private participation in service provision, intensifying recycling rates, laying a solid institutional, technical, and financial operation base, developing definite targets, and shifting from linear approaches to circularity. The results will help Zimbabwe learn the best international practices to improve its waste management policies.