OVER 13,000 TONNES OF PLASTIC GENERATED YEARLY
Uganda’s actions are part of Africa’s commitment to eradicating plastic from its part of the world.
At a recent United Nations climate meeting in Nairobi, African nations committed to ending plastic use and to investing in recycling and waste management infrastructure.
Rwanda, Kenya and Somalia have successfully banned single-use plastic so far, but not Uganda.
According to the National Environment Management Authority, its capital Kampala produces more than 13,000 tonnes of plastic every year. Nearly half of that is not properly disposed of or recycled.
Initiatives in Uganda, such as the Ghetto Research Lab, hope the outcomes of the global meeting in Canada will help support its work in designing solutions for a plastic-free future.
The local charity, which supports women living in slums, has trained residents in Kayunga on plastic waste management.
“Our organisation brings people together, especially the women who use plastics, who go to the shops to buy sugar and can’t reuse the polythene. We give them lessons and ideas like bottle bricks, pavers, pole making which are all plastic and get rid of them,” said Ghetto Research Lab founder Patrick Majuzi.
Kayunga townswomen have used their training to pack bottles with discarded plastic, before compacting the bottles to make them strong enough for construction.
These bottles are then made into eco-bricks to build water tanks for their community, which lacks access to clean water.
