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Gulu in bid to end plastic menace
A plastic collection bin at the Gulu main market in Gulu City on Monday. This is one of the facilities set up by city authorities under the Gulu Go Green campaign. photo/ Tobbias Jolly Owiny
What you need to know:
Gulu City has launched several campaigns to ease the collection of plastic waste, which is recycled into other products.
Plastic pollution is a major challenge affecting cities in Uganda. Poor plastic waste management has caused issues such as blockages in drainage channels, and pollution of water sources, among others.
It is against this background that authorities in Gulu City have come up with several projects aimed at curbing plastic pollution.
One such project is the Gulu Go Green campaign where bins to collect plastics have been set up in different parts of the city.
Mr Alfred Okwonga, the Gulu City mayor, says the campaign is aimed at making Gulu a model city in the country.
“We want to see a clean and accessible Gulu City, with all the equipment we now have at our disposal, we have partnered with other corporate and civil society organisations to achieve this target,” he says.
The city has also set up plastic waste banks in every village and cell within the city to ensure plastic waste is collected in one location.
This is part of the Gulu Integrated Catchment Management Partnership, which is funded by the World Bank and KfW Development Fund.
Plastic waste banks
The plastic waste banks, which are made of metallic meshes, were set up between 2021 and 2022.
Mr Michael Rubanga, the Bardege Layibi City Health Inspector, says: “A total of 240 plastic waste banks have been secured and deployed around the city.”
He adds that the city has more than 100 waste skips and five waste trucks, with the two divisions assigned two trucks each and one truck allocated to the city centre.
Mr Rubanga says prior to the introduction of these facilities, plastics were either dumped in landfills or burnt due to the high transportation costs charged to move the materials to Kampala for recycling.
The Gulu Integrated Catchment Management Partnership was launched in April.
The project is supported by the Natural Resources Stewardship Programme (NatuReS) under the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Union.
It aims at collectively promoting Gulu City‘s economic growth through sustainable solid waste and water resources management.
The intervention includes recycling waste into new products. Several local firms dealing in plastic recycling can now transform recycled plastic into new products, like chairs and tables.
“This has not only added value to waste and further incentivised recycling but also created more jobs and income for communities,” Mr Okwonga says.
To address the challenge of insufficient data and improve collaboration along the waste value chain, the partnership supported the development of a waste collection app for Gulu City.
Through the app, waste generators like households and companies can for example order bookings with private waste collectors to pick up their waste or get information about dates when specific types of waste are collected.
According to NatuReS, the app also provides the city council with accurate real-time data on the amounts and locations of waste collected around town and thus spurs a more timely, innovative, and efficient solid waste management system.
At the weekend, the city’s leadership together with officials from Hariss International Ltd launched a new environmental campaign dubbed the Riham Green Ambassadors Clubs.
The clubs have been set up in different schools in the city and are aimed at promoting environmental conservation among young people and increasing the national (plastic) recycling rate.
“As a producer of plastics, our goal is to address the biggest hindrance to proper waste management which is behaviour and that is why mindset change has to be tackled right when children and youth are still in school,” Ms Ishta Atukunda, Hariss International Ltd spokesperson, says.
“We are setting up school clubs where club members will be trained on proper waste management and recycling, the selected schools have each been given seven recycle bins and mentors to teach them to separate waste into plastic, paper and organic or kitchen waste.
“Because most packaging on the market is now 100 percent recyclable, we want to teach the young generation to recycle, reuse and recycle packaging waste. Recycling helps stop plastic waste by turning used plastic back into raw material for making new plastic products, etc,” she adds.
So far, 10 schools are set to benefit from the project. These include Layibi High School, Gulu High School, St Joseph’s College Layibi, St John Paul II College, Ocer Champion Jesuit College, Gulu Central High School, Unifat Primary School, and Christ Church Primary School.
“Under this intervention, we want to foster behavioural change in children at a young age so that they can embrace environmental conservation practices and become ambassadors of change in their communities for a sustainable future,” Ms Atukunda says.
Value addition
Takataka Plastics is a local firm investing in plastics recycling by turning wastes, both organic and plastics, into high-quality affordable products.
Since 2020, it has collected at least 46.5 tonnes of plastic waste and recycled it.
Mr Patrick Masembe, a staff at the firm, said they are conserving the environment by recycling plastics.
“This year, we intend to prevent 265 tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere and train more youth in plastic recycling, circular economy, and social entrepreneurship,” he said.
Last year, Takataka, with support from the KfW Development Bank’s Integrated Programme to Improve the Living Conditions in Gulu, also introduced the low-cost sustainable solution of bottle banks.
The banks it deployed around the city are now offering an opportunity for communities to sort plastic from other waste categories.
“People simply deposit plastics they would have otherwise thrown away with other waste into the banks. The banks are mostly placed in public places like schools, hospitals, police stations and markets,” Mr Masembe says.
Once the banks are full, Masembe says there are groups of youth employed by the city council to empty the plastics into carts that are delivered to the Takataka Plastics processing unit in exchange for cash.
“The youth are paid according to the kilogrammes they deliver,” he says.
Plastic pollution is a major challenge affecting cities in Uganda. photo/ file
CHALLENGES
In the 2023/2024 financial year budget, the city budgeted for only Shs10 million for plastic waste management.
However, Ms Caroline Rose Adong, the secretary of finance and administration in the Gulu City Council, says more funds will be realised through partnerships.
“The city has a waste management and financing capacity with funding and support from partners like KfW Development Bank and others which makes waste management easier,” she says.
Mr Michael Ocan, the Gulu environment officer, says the biggest challenge hindering proper waste management in the city is the mindset of the community towards waste management.
“Of all the waste skips put in all the corners of Gulu City, you find that people still throw plastics and other waste on the road,” Mr Ocan says.
Ms Agnes Oyella, the Gulu City senior planner, says: “People need to change their mindset so that we have a clean and waste-free city. If we cannot change our mindset towards proper waste collections, we will continue to spend money on waste collections and have a dirty city.”
But Mr Okwonga says they have intensified sensitisation of residents who live or work within the city on proper waste management to keep the corridors and streets clean of garbage.
