Ugandans threw away banana leaves, khaki bags for kaveera

To mark 50 years of Uganda’s independence, New Vision will, until October 9, 2012, be publishing highlights of events and profiling personalities who have shaped the history of this country. Today,  CECILIA OKOTH looks at the state of Uganda’s environment.

For Perusi Namukwaya the tiny piece of land in Muswangali Zone has been home for many years. I lived here since I was 16. I have raised eight children, several grandchildren and grandchildren here,” she says. She is now in her 70s. For all these years, Namukwaya has grown her food on this land. “We used to grow potatoes, cassava, beans, maize and vegetables, season after season. From this we got enough for home consumption while we sold the surplus for an income,” she says.

Over the years however, Namukwaya’s land has become less productive. Not only has the land become barren, we experience lots of floods, storms and lengthy droughts. All these conditions have been worsened by the presence of plastic bags, otherwise known as kaveera. Buried under the ground, the plastic bags have filled up the land affecting nutrient intake and causing barrenness in the once fertile land.

The weather conditions have also become extreme. “When it rains, the water gushes down through those trenches. We fear the floods will sweep us away. When it shines the heat is too much. It is like the sun has fallen from the sky.”

This coupled with unbearable dust has made life difficult. The land has become barren, unable to produce any crops. All this she attributes to kaveera. When you try to dig, all you pull out is kaveera. She says that whenever it rains, Kaveera is washed down the ground, including the gardens, sticking there and choking the land.
Namukwaya reminisces the good old days- the 50s and 60s when land was free of kaveera.

“We used to pack all our groceries in kakhi paper bags or old newspapers. Meat was packed in banana leaves and we did not have all these problems of floods, barren soil or these strange diseases that are common these days.”    

Plastic bags were introduced to Uganda in the 1970s. By 1980 they had infiltrated most sections of society. They came in as handy and substitutes for paper bags. By 2000 kaveera was even used as food container.

Today, it has become a much relied-upon item in people’s day to day lives. “I cannot imagine a life without kaveera. It is the cheapest way of packing and transporting items.
How else would you pack meat and all the other items after shopping?” says Nakibuule Mukasa, a regular shopper.

Kaveera also serves as school bag for many pupils who cannot afford longer lasting carriers. In many cases kaveera has been used for waste disposal, this is especially so in slummy dwellings where people lack proper toilets. The once reliable bag has as a result of all these varied uses, turned into a health threat. Experts observe that because of their  non-biodegradable (inability to decompose) nature, plastic bags damage the soil.

“Agricultural productivity has steadily continued to go down partly as a result of poor disposal of polythene bags, and this is threatening food security,” says Dr. Aryamanya Mugisha, the former executive director of the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).

The kaveera however, has been a contentious issue. Wary of its effect on the environment, activists have called for a total ban on their manufacture, importation and use of plastic bags. Some sections however defer, claiming that polythene bags provide employment and are a source of revenue. The Government has come up with policies on polythene bags. Yet due to poor implementation, some of them have not applied very well.

In 1992 the Bill to ban the manufacture, importation and use of the polythene bag, was tabled but has remained on the shelf. Careless dumping of kaveera remains rampant largely because of lack of sufficient supervision of proper disposal of plastic bags. Nakivubo channel, a natural water filter continues to harbour filthy and life-threatening waste, largely because it is blocked by plastic bags.

The 9km Nakivubo Channel was built about 50 years ago to carry rain water from the city and surround areas into Lake Victoria. With the expanding city and the increasing population, the channel was widened decade ago.

Among many other problems, the poor disposal methods of polythene bags and plastic water bottles have rendered the channel almost ineffective as floods in the city have become a commonplace during the rainy season.     

NEMA’s role
“Plastic bags have been here for such a long time it has not been easy to remove them overnight,” says Gerald Saula, the deputy executive director NEMA. But efforts are underway to improve the situation. He notes that some manufacturers in the country are gradually closing down their factories, although the bigger challenge still remains with importers who claim to transit plastic bags through Uganda to neighbouring countries like DRC, but end up dumping them in Uganda.

For the construction industry, Saula says the polythene used mainly in roofing is imported.“The type of buveera we find in gutters and those that retailers and small scale shoppers use to pack their customers goods like sugar and flour is what we are trying to fight,” Saula says.

Alternatives of Kaveera   
As plastic bags continue to become a menace, the need for alternatives is also becoming apparent. There have been suggestions for the adoption of papyrus bags as is the case in Rwanda. Implementation on that is not yet in the picture though.

Fifty  years on
Experts observe that unless agricultural productivity will continue to dwindle and food security threatened. The country will also continue to suffer with poor drainage system and its associated problems such as floods and waterborne diseases.

Declining soil fertility
The soil has not been spared by the continued scourge of the poor waste disposal of polythene bags. Lots of land is continually lost to this cause; when the polythene bags enter into the soil, they block further passage of mineral salts and oxygen to the soil. When blocked the soil is unable to yield crops properly hence causing several problems to the farmer and consumers.

Loss of livestock
Animals in rural areas die when swallowing polythene bags because they are not digestible.

Blockage of water systems 
Water is another resource that is highly important to man but has been disturbed by these polythene waste materials and as an after effect; man is affected in various ways that cannot be fully listed. Water systems are blocked during continued dumping of these polythene materials along the shore, the water flow is affected and may be stopped thus causing floods.

Unpleasant scenery
The scenery of the various places where wastes are disposed can only best be defined as improper for human settlement. So when wastes are poorly disposed, we end up having the beautiful natural environment losing its beauty this may scare away many tourists and visitors. Gases burnt out of Kaveera cause global warming.