Tooro Kingdom, Coca-Cola join efforts to ‘Save River Mpanga’

Coca-Cola Uganda yesterday signed a conservation partnership with the Tooro Kingdom to ‘Save River Mpanga’.

The conservation partnership, signed at the Coca-Cola Platform at the UMA Showgrounds in Lugogo, Kampala, will involve clean-up activities to rid River Mpanga of plastic waste, and mobilisation and sensitisation of the people of Tooro about the dangers of irresponsible waste management.

The partnership will promote environmental conservation and protection of the 120km River Mpanga.

Between October and December this year, the Kingdom of Tooro will run campaigns among residents of the best environmental practices in the community and responsible plastic waste management to promote recycling.

Coca-Cola contributed Shs 20million to fund the initiative.

Speaking on behalf of Omukama, King Oyo Nyimba at the MOU signing, Joan Else Adyeeri, the Tooro minister of Tourism, said Oyo was focused on the environment, youth, agriculture, tourism and, most of all, the environment.

"He wants to see Tooro become green again, it’s not just a touch of a button, we have to work for it and he is doing it. You will find him cleaning river Mpanga, planting trees and preaching the gospel of planting trees in the kingdom,” Adyeeri said.

"The campaign to ‘save River Mpanga’ was launched three years ago. We have done many activities among which is a fundraising dinner which was just a drop in the ocean because, if we don’t wake-up today, we are losing it. River Mpanga is important to all of us. It doesn’t serve only Coca-Cola, it supports the businesses and also provides water for domestic consumption, not only that, it boosts our tourism in Fort portal District. So it’s important that we all do our share to save River Mpanga,” she said.

In communities all over the world, Coca-Cola has been committed to providing funding and supporting initiatives that help tackle the world’s plastic waste management problem one community at a time.

Melkamu Abebe, General Manager of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa entities in Uganda (Century and Rwenzori Bottling Companies), in a message delivered by Simon Kaheru, the Public Affairs and Communications Director of the company said: “The solution that the kingdom came-up with captured our attention because, the kingdom has decided to do three things; one, conduct clean-up activities at River Mpanga – which involves removing all inorganic garbage from the river. That objective is in total synchronisation with our objective to remove all plastic waste from the environment especially from the water."

He said the company has established a recycling plant operating in Nakawa, whose main purpose is not only to recycle plastic but also an equal system that makes people take away plastic from the environment.

The Coca-Cola Company in 2018, launched an initiative dubbed ‘World Without Waste’ which includes the ambitious goal of collecting and recycling the equivalent of every bottle or can the company sells globally by 2030.

Since launching the initiative, the company has underwritten and implemented new recycling campaigns, as well as reinvented existing ones while adhering to the values of a closed-loop circular economy: a system in which all of the plastic packaging the company produces is designed to be recycled, kept in the economy, and reused in food and beverages.