Environmentalists call for proper waste disposal

Due to the increasing population within the cities and urban centres, residents have turned every open area into a garbage collection site, contributing to poor hygiene.

The blame game on who is responsible for littering these towns has attracted concern of environmentalists.

As leaders raise the red flag on a pending health risk if the uncollected garbage is not removed, a section of residents blame authorities for abdicating their duty of collecting the garbage yet the business community pays taxes.

When one reach some towns and slums ,the garbage is not only in isolated places but also on streets, including the market and restaurant areas where the risk of contracting diseases associated with poor waste management such as dysentery and cholera is high.

Environmentalists noted that poor waste disposal remains a main challenge for the authorities largely due to lack of sensitisation of masses in Kampala where at least 1500 tons of garbage is generated daily.

The slum being home to thousands of poor people, it’s also a workplace for many people especially in the informal sector.

Experts said this population generates large quantities of garbage daily much of which remains uncollected and is disposed of in the drainage channels that pass through the community.

A November 2021 study titled, Solid waste segregation and recycling in Kampala slums; facilitators, barriers and impacts of a sensitization/marketing intervention conducted by Dr. Richard Mugambe of Makerere University found that whereas some households segregate the generated waste, others don’t.

Those who don’t segregate at the generation level cited a lack of space, cannot see the importance, some said segregation is time wasting and others cannot afford separate bins as reasons.

According to the environmentalists, poor garbage disposal is a main problem not only in slums but in all of Kampala’s settlements.

Dr. John Bosco Isunju, a lecturer in the department of Disease Control and Environmental Health in the College of Health Services, Makerere University said disposal should start at the generation of garbage level.

According to the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA), there's a need for sensitising the masses in poorer communities and elsewhere on improving proper waste management especially as the country struggles to contain the use of plastics and polythene bags.

"Proper waste disposal starts from the generation, collects bottles alone, bio-degradables alone, class alone. Well collected and sorted waste can easily be recycled," said Isunju.

The Makerere University study found that wastes that were mostly disposed of rightfully include; Matooke peelings, Plastic bottles and kaveera and food remains due to the economic value attached to them.

"The peels, bottles, food remains and metals are exchanged for incentives," said Isunju.

He noted that poor waste disposal is a common environmental conservation challenge.

However,NEMA hopes the National Environmental Act 2019 will help solve this challenge.

In Kampala, the poor garbage disposal has always been attributed to the loopholes in city waste law. Waste disposal is provided for under the City Solid Waste Management Ordinance, 2000.

The ordinance states that every owner or occupant of a dwelling or commercial premises is responsible for waste generated at those premises until it is collected by KCCA.

It is illegal and punishable to dump garbage in places where it may be or become a public health nuisance. These places include water bodies, public streets and the roadside. In 2012, KCCA tried to enforce the Ordinance and some people who were caught littering the city were charged in court.

Next Media Services and its partners; vivo energy Uganda, Uganda Breweries, Stanbic Bank and NEMA are walking the sensitisation journey through the Taasa Obutonde campaign.