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Managing home garbage during lockdown
Proper garbage management demands discipline. PHOTO BY PHIONAH NASSANGA
At this point when everything seems to be at a standstill with less or no trucks to collect garbage from the different residents, Andrew Nahabwe, managing director of Mavek Cleaning Services, Ntinda, Kampala, says for the health and hygiene of your family and that of your neighbours instead of waiting for garbage trucks, you can deploy simple methods to help you deal with that garbage before it leads to another pandemic.
Turn the plastics into planters
“The biggest percentage of our garbage is made of plastics such as water bottles and tins of blue band, honey, cosmetics among other plastics.
However, when separated from the rest of the garbage, these can be useful especially for those interested in flowers and urban farming,” Nahabwe shares.
He notes that these can be used as flower planters on the verandah or a garden for fast growing vegetables. He says this will help you reduce the amount of garbage in your home, add beauty to it and save you money that you would have spent on vegetables.
Use separate bins
Nahabwe explains that at times garbage turns out to be unmanageable because of the way it is handled. He says garbage is in three categories, liquid garbage, solid, which includes a variety of items most of which are plastics, metals, broken glass among other items. The third is the organic garbage, which is mainly from the kitchen.
“When you deploy three or two containers, this will save you from piling different garbage in the same can, which will after a few days rot thus giving off a bad smell. To make it easy for the rest of the people at home, label the containers and make it known to the rest. For example, waste food stuff and plastics,” Nahabwe advises.
He adds that the best way you can do away with the liquid wastes is by filtering it first and then pour away the water. This can be either be in the trench or in the sink. But, after you have made sure there are no food particles or any plastics in it.
Make use of decomposing garbage
Every day, a large amount of what you throw into the trash could be decomposed and returned to the earth. If you have a bin and some extra space, you can easily start a simple compost site that could feed back into your backyard garden. Your excess food will not go to waste, your garden will be full of nutrients.
Joseph Mukasa of Mama Cleaning Services in Rubaga, Kampala, says organic garbage can be turned into manure so it must not be discarded with the general garbage.
Briquettes
Other than manure, Mukasa goes on to suggest that you can as well make charcoal briquettes from the decomposed organic garbage.
Briquetting is one of the ways you can reduce the garbage in your home and turn it into a treasure. Making briquettes means you will get free fuel for cooking and also make money from the sale of briquettes.
Limit the use of plastic bags
On many occasions, the government has come up to fight against the use of polythene bags but this is a battle that has not been achieved as yet.
However, Nahabwe states that one of the ways to reduce the amount of garbage is to resort to reusable bags. Instead of relying on plastic bags at the different shopping centres, carry your own cloth bag. Collecting a bunch of extra polythene bags in your house and car is an easy way to increase your waste, so drop the habit.
Bio gas
According to Mukasa, you can make cooking gas by digesting wet organic waste in a sealed chamber to make bio gas.
You place wet organic waste such as food waste in a sealed chamber with no air inside, and as it digests, the waste will release gas which can be captured and used for cooking.
Make crafts
From the straws and polythene bags, items such as mats, toys, and decorations can be made. However, he states that to achieve this, discipline is required in the way you sort your garbage because it is not a matter of just piling all types of garbage together.
How to deal with smelly garbage
When there is too much garbage, the chances of an unpleasant stench wafting from this garbage disposal is high. However, Nahabwe says you can deal with the bad smell by using baking soda.
“You can sprinkle it on the bottom of the trash bin or directly onto the garbage. Better still you can apply ash on top of the garbage. Alternatively, when it is sunny, turn your garbage so often so that it dries,” he advises.
Revealing that you can also fumigate the garbage area to help you eliminate fries.
