Dart Container Corporation of Pennsylvania to Commemorate Earth Day at its Leola Plant

This year Earth Day falls on April 22, 2010. However, for the convenience of Lancaster community Dart will commemorate the Earth day on Saturday, April 17, 2010. In Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the day will be observed by various environmental conscious organizations. Dart Container Corporation in Lancaster is aggressively pursuing and promoting environmental consciousness and awareness.

Dart Container Corporation of Pennsylvania is the leading manufacturer of plastic and foam products for the food service industry. Products such as foam cups and plates are widely used at popular fast food service places such as McDonald, and Dunkin’ Donut just to name a few.

Dart owns two drop-off locations, one in Lancaster at its Pitney Road site and the other at its Leola plant. There is also a growing number of companies that have started dropping off truckloads of used foam at the Leola plant for recycling. The end product of the recycling process is a densified material that finds its use as raw material in the manufacture of video cassettes, picture frames and office trays.

Several invitations have been sent out to stakeholders and the community to come and be a part of Earth Day activities. A lot of activities are planned for the occasion such as plant tours, video show of the company history and its environmental efforts, two trucks will be onsite to help the local community bring their waste paper to be shredded for free. There will also be refreshments for all those who will attend the Earth Day occasion.

For more information on Dart’s recycling program visit: www.dart.biz

Zambia's Globe-trotting Leaders

When a leader has no clue what he is supposed to do in his position, he must try very hard to find ways and means of creating an impression that he or she is doing their job. Most intelligent Zambians understand that their leader is all-out to want to be seen to be doing something. Fortunately, this guy has achieved a status of an accomplished professional globe-trotter. Every Zambian knows that he was born in Zimbabwe of Zimbabwean parents. It's not surprising that he feels he is an alien to Zambia and thus would rather spend more time, maybe even one week in China, a couple of days here and elsewhere and so on and so forth until the year comes to a close while he is in the air on flight. But Zambians cannot be fooled forever and every dog has its day and indeed the day for Zambians is slowly coming when they will say stay out wherever you are Mr. foreign-based president.

Appalling Lusaka City Roads and Sidewalks

Some sidewalks in Lusaka town centre have deteriorated so much that it is appallingly and a shame. When you factor in the dismal and poor quality of shops and buildings in the Central Business District (CBD), you get the impression that you have landed in a characteristicallly tired, old and abandoned town. This picture is notonly common to Lusaka but in many parts of the country.

Zambia is a country that has never been at war for the council to use as a scapegoat and shroud for it's failure to maintain road infrastrucure in the CBD. One of the sidewalks in deplorable state is found along the notoriously famous Katondo street between Chachacha road and Freedom Way. One wonders just how long it is going to take the City Council to realize that the walkways are in such a begging state for them to start addressing the problem.

Roads in residential areas are even in much worse state. It is even a wonder how private cars and public transport plies along these bad roads. Most of the roads don't even give a visitor any clue that  they were once paved. It is understandable that the City has no capacity let alone equipment to undertake road repairs to professional standard and quality that is taken for granted in developed and some developing countries. This is where the private sector comes in. But the private sector must be well equipped and be able to perform road and sidewalk construction professionally and with integrity. Unfortunately these qualities are rare in Zambia. Road projects must be done so that the roads and sidewalks so constructed can last upto 50 years or beyond. However, this is not the case. Roads that were recently constructed during the Second Republic already have pot holes. One example is Lumumba road in Lusaka. What is the cause of this? Causes are public knowledge!

Is This Zambia's International Airport?

Visiting Zambia after eight years of absence left me unspired about the prospects of future infrastructure development in the country. I had been hearing about some interesting developments in the country and in my mind thought that the much-talked about development projects in Lusaka had been extended to the re-development of Lusaka International Airport. I sat on the left side of the plane by the window. As the British Airways plane was almost touching the runway to land, the airport came into full view. The view was depressing to realize that nothing significant had been done to uplift the image of the airport all the eight years I had been out of the country. However, some cosmetic developments have been done at the airport's main parkinglot. The parkinglot now has a ticket booth where every motorist must to stop to be robbed of their money because there is nothing worth paying for. It's almost laughable to see another rather  silly addition in which the sides of the walkway are covered with shoulder-high blue hard plastic paneling and with a roof of a similar colour. This arrangement runs the full stretch to the edge of the right of way separating the beginning of the walkway from the front of the airport terminal.

The main airport terminal remains the same. If there had been no aeroplane parked, one wouldn't even think this was an airport. The arrival walkway as you enter airport terminal is less inspiring too. You can see it was added as an afterthought that was not rendered any serious thinking. One wonders whatever is wrong with this picture. Zambian leaders are extensively travelled but they have no inclimnation to learn how other countries in the region and other developed ones have managed to put up quality airports. The Zambian airport looks no more than a train station or simply half of a shopping mall. How long will it take for Zambia to modernize the airport? It is long overdue!