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Authorities seek Shs1b to revamp garbage recycling plant
Boda-boda operators pass by the Kirengyere garbage recycling plant on Saturday. PHOTO | ROBERT MUHEREZA
What you need to know:
- They are also looking for approximately Shs550m to acquire a larger piece of land to be used as a garbage collection centre.
Authorities at Kabale Municipal Council are seeking Shs1b to revamp the garbage recycling plant on Kirengyere Hill in Kyanamira Sub-county.
They are also looking for approximately Shs550m to acquire a larger piece of land to be used as a garbage collection centre.
During a press conference at the weekend, the Kabale Municipal Council Mayor, Mr Byamugisha Sentaro, said the council is yet to partner with the private service providers interested in recycling plastic materials that are dumed at the Kirengyere garbage collecting centre.
“We need about Shs1b to revamp our garbage recycling plant at Kirengyere where organic waste materials are turned into manure after separating them from plastic materials. We also need about Shs550m to buy land that will serve as the garbage collecting centre because the current collecting centre that we have on Kirengyere hill is too small to accommodate the huge volumes of garbage collected from Kabale town every day,” Mr Byamugisha said.
The Kyanamira Sub-county chairman, Mr Deus Kamugisha, said the existence of the garbage recycling plant on Kirengyere hill has become a health risk to the people and appealed to the Kabale Municipal Council authorities to speed up the process of relocating it.
“While we appreciate that the garbage recycling plant located on Kirengyere hill is providing employment opportunities to our people besides providing organic manure to the farmers in the area, we appeal to the Kabale Municipal Council authorities to speed up the process of relocating it because it is about to become a health threat to the people because of the stench and emissions from it,” Mr Kamugisha said.
Residents of Kirengyere Village say they have had a terrible experience due to the stench and emissions from the garbage heaps at the Kirengyere recycling plant.
“I operated a shop selling general merchandise and served soft drinks to my customers before the Kirengyere garbage recycling plant was established next to my business premises. Because of the stench from the decomposing garbage that attracted several flies, I had to stop the business because most of my customers had left,” Mr Jeremiah Orekira, one of the residents, said.
He added: “It will be a great relief to us if this garbage collecting center is relocated to another place.”
The senior health inspector in Kabale Municipality, Mr Andrew Biija, says a total of three tonnes of garbage are delivered on Kirengyere garbage recycling plant every day.
Mr Biija said Kirengyere garbage recycling plant employs about 20 people per day and a total of about 10 tonnes of organic manure is sorted from the site every month.
He added that if the plant was operating at full capacity, it would be employing more people and generating more organic manure.
“Those people complaining about the bad smell from our garbage recycling plant should vacate the area because they found this facility in place before they constructed homesteads. None of them has approved building plans. We cannot apply chemicals to kill flies because they are vital in facilitating the decomposing process of this garbage,” Mr Biija said.
About the facility
Kirengyere garbage recycling plant is located about 6Km away from Kabale town on the Kabale-Mbarara highway and was established about 20 years ago after Kabale Municipal Council received special fund allocation from the World Bank
