Joining this episode to talk about the challenges of Solid Waste Management is Helena McLeod (the Team Lead of Cities and Infrastructure for Growth (CIG)) and Dr. Najib Bateganya Lukooya (Urban Sanitation Expert with CIG). CIG is a five-year UKAid funded initiative that provides demand-driven technical assistance to address constraints hindering urban development in the Jinja–Kampala–Entebbe corridor, emphasizing the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area (GKMA).
Uganda's rapid population growth and urban migration bring several development challenges including Solid Waste Management (SWM). At the forefront of the issue is proper disposal. Less than 50% of all waste makes it to a designated landfill. As a result, plastic pollution from bags and bottles, among other waste, is littering the land and choking waterways. Then the second major challenge is appropriately managing the waste that does reach the landfill. Kampala has one landfill, Kiteezi, which serves approximately 5 million people and receives about 1,300 tons of trash per day. However, the landfill is past its intended life span, under-engineered, suffers safety and environmental problems and is full. A new landfill is scheduled to open in approximately two years. Still, there remain issues on how and who will close the current landfill properly, the future use of the closed landfill site, the associated job losses from the landfill moving, and how to open and maintain a better new location.
Furthermore, as no one wants a landfill in their neighborhood, protests are expected surrounding opening the new location. However, the issue of SWM needs to be dealt with soon. Future projections show that by 2030, annual waste is to increase by approximately 60% for Kampala.
Additional resources:
www.ugandacig.com
https://youtu.be/SvTu5V60_KE
https://www.kcca.go.ug/Waste-Treatment-and-Disposal
