Why KCCA landfill must move away from Uganda’s strategic oil terminal
The proximity of a major waste facility to the Kampala Storage Terminal raises important questions about public safety and responsible planning, writes Milton Kambula
Milton Kambula. (Courtesy)
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OPINION
By Milton Kambula
As a resident of Nsujjumpolwe village in Kiringente sub-county, Mpigi district, I strongly support President Yoweri Museveni’s directive to have the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) solid waste disposal site relocated away from the Kampala Storage Terminal (KST).
This is not simply a question of where Kampala dumps its garbage. It is a question of public safety, environmental protection and responsible planning.
The decision to find alternative waste-disposal sites followed the tragic collapse of the Kiteezi landfill in August 2024. The disaster killed dozens of people and exposed the dangers associated with poorly managed waste facilities. Parliament subsequently called for safer and more sustainable approaches to waste management.
We must therefore learn from Kiteezi rather than transfer the problem from one community to another.
The concern is even greater when we consider the location of the Nsujjumpolwe site in relation to the newly established Kampala Storage Terminal.
At the terminal’s breaking-of-the-ground ceremony, President Museveni described the garbage site’s proximity to the petroleum facility as dangerous and called for alternative methods of dealing with waste, including incineration, that could also generate electricity.
I believe this position deserves serious consideration.
The KST is being developed as a major petroleum-storage facility with a planned capacity of 320 million litres. Its strategic importance to Uganda’s petroleum supply means that every reasonable measure should be taken to protect the facility, its workers and surrounding communities.
A large waste facility and a major petroleum installation should not be treated as unrelated developments. Waste sites can generate combustible gases and can experience fires. When such a facility is located close to large quantities of petroleum products, the consequences of an incident could be considerably serious.
The answer, however, is not simply to move the garbage somewhere else and create another community that must live with the same problems.
Uganda needs to change the way it thinks about waste.
Instead of relying heavily on open dumping, authorities should accelerate investment in waste separation, recycling, composting, controlled waste treatment and waste-to-energy technologies. Waste should increasingly be viewed as a resource rather than something to be transported from Kampala and abandoned in another district.
There is also an aviation-safety dimension that deserves greater attention.
Entebbe International Airport already has a dedicated Bird Hazard and Wildlife Control Unit because birds and other wildlife can pose risks to aircraft. The Uganda Civil Aviation Authority has specifically linked waste-management practices around communities near the airport to efforts to reduce bird hazards.
International aviation guidance similarly identifies landfill and garbage-disposal sites as potential wildlife attractants because food waste can draw birds whose movements may cross aircraft flight paths.
For residents of Nsujjumpolwe, the concerns are immediate. More than 100 garbage trucks reportedly pass through the village daily, including at night. Residents have to contend with odours, noise, dust and the broader environmental concerns associated with large-scale waste disposal.
People living near such facilities deserve the same right to a clean and healthy environment as everyone else.
There are also concerns about leachate, a contaminated liquid produced when water passes through waste. It can affect soil and water if a landfill is inadequately designed or managed. Landfill fires can likewise release pollutants and create risks beyond the immediate disposal site.
We should therefore welcome the President’s intervention not as a political contest, but as an opportunity to rethink Uganda’s waste-management system.
The Kiteezi tragedy should remain a warning. We cannot solve Kampala’s garbage problem by creating new environmental and safety problems for communities in Mpigi.
The relocation of the landfill should be accompanied by a clear, technically sound and sustainable waste-management plan. KCCA, the central government, local authorities and environmental agencies should work together to identify safe disposal arrangements while investing in recycling, waste-to-energy and other modern technologies.
Nsujjumpolwe residents should not have to choose between development and safety.
We can have both.
What we need is careful planning, modern technology and respect for communities whose land and environment are being used to solve Kampala’s waste crisis.
The writer is the president of the Global Peace Foundation, a peace service ambassador and a resident of Mpigi district