Solid waste management still a challenge in Jinja

Jul 23, 2021

Semaganda says the road to the landfill is in a bad state, and this has made delivering rubbish to the site difficult.

A truck transporting garbage to Masese landfill from Jinja city recently. Photos Donald Kiirya

Donald Kiirya
Journalist @New Vision

For a long time, the leadership of Jinja city has always found it challenging to manage the hundreds of tonnes of solid waste produced by residents annually.

Jinja city comprises two divisions — Jinja South East and Jinja North.

Although the city authorities have tried to enact by-laws on solid waste management, residents have continued to litter their homes, streets and open corridors with garbage.

Jinja, which was once the industrial town of Uganda, was elevated from municipality to city status recently.

It has moved from being an industrial town to a tourist city on the shores of Lake Victoria.

Some of the tourist attractions are the Source of River Nile and Busoga kingdom cultural sites.

Water rafting, good hotels for accommodation and a variety of recreation centres are some of the factors that attract tourists to Jinja.

Garbage disposal

Vinn Semaganda, the director of Allidina Village Garbage Link, one of the companies that collect garbage in Jinja, says it is collected monthly and dumped at the city landfill in Masese.

Semaganda says his company collects five Isuzu-Forward truck full of garbage — about 10 tonnes — from the city centre daily. 

 Pay for garbage collection

Semaganda, who is also the LC1 chairperson of Allidina village in Jinja city, says the authorities pay for the collection of garbage from the Jinja Central Market, but not for private homes.

He says private individuals also make quarterly payments for his firm to collect their rubbish.

“My company has been operating in Jinja city for close to one-and-a-half years and the landlords have been paying for garbage collection. A household with about five people pays sh10,000, while those with about 15 people pay sh30,000,” Semaganda says.

Garbage skips

Semaganda says when Jinja was still a municipality, garbage skips were put in place, but ever since it was elevated to city status, garbage skips stationed at designated areas were phased out.

He says his company partnered with Jinja city authorities and asked residents to buy garbage bins and station them in their homes.

Semaganda says he owns two trucks — one moves around the city collecting garbage from households every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, while the second one is stationed at Jinja Central Market to serve the vendors.

He says the market is the biggest generator of garbage in the city.

Semaganda employs about 40 workers and pays each sh30,000 per week. The workers also clean and sweep the city streets. 

Landfill

Disposing of garbage in landfills is popular in developing countries. The method involves burying the garbage in the soil.

Although they are popular, landfills give rise to air and water pollution, which negatively affects the environment and animals. 

The Jinja city mayor, Alton Kasolo, says the main landfill is located in Masese.

Semaganda says the road to the landfill is in a bad state, and this has made delivering rubbish to the site difficult.

He says when it rains, the road becomes slippery and makes it impossible for their trucks to deliver the garbage.

Semaganda requests city authorities to work on the road for easy access to the landfill.

He also wants city authorities to modernise the landfill since the current one is small.

Recycling

Semaganda says there are no companies that recycle solid waste in Jinja and requested investors to venture into the business of recycling solid waste so that they make biogas and manure, which can be sold to farmers.

 Way forward

Kasolo says before Jinja became a city, local council leaders were given authority to manage collection of garbage in their areas, adding that the system is being implemented in Jinja South East division, but is yet to be introduced to the Jinja North division that is partly rural. 

Kasolo says city authorities sensitised residents about the garbage collection system, adding that they will pass an ordinance that empowers LC1 chairpersons in garbage collection.

He says Jinja city council will modernise the Jinja landfill to cater for recycling of solid waste.

Kasolo says they are proposing to relocate the landfill to Musima, where there is enough space.

He says Jinja city council will supervise LC1 chairpersons in the collection of garbage.    

Experts speak

Edward Munaaba, the director of Edwards Hamlet, says solid waste pollution exposes people to diseases such as bacillary dysentery, diarrhoea, amoebic dysentery, cholera, jaundice, hepatitis and gastronomic diseases. 

Munaaba says apart from the bad odour released to the communities, it is well known that most people do not understand the effects of solid waste to the community and their health. 

Munaaba, who is also a climate change researcher from Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, Norrkoping, says good waste disposal makes neighbourhoods safe and healthy places to live in.

He says some of the effects of poor waste management are soil, air and water contamination.

The others are diseases and missed recycling opportunities.

Munaaba says poor disposal worsens climate change because of the methane gas the rubbish generates.

When waste is managed the right way, it does not merely eliminate the subsequent waste but also reduces the impact and the intensity of harmful greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon mono-oxide and methane that often emanate from waste in landfills.

Residents speak out

Simon Nsadha

Jinja city authorities, in partnership with cultural institutions, need to sensitise people about the fact that it is their responsibility to keep Jinja clean. Joint efforts between the cultural institutions and local governments will yield something

John Magezi

Garbage collection in the city has not been managed well because most of the streets are untidy. This comes back to people’s collective responsibility of keeping the city clean to prevent diseases.

Salim Hussein Magumba, tourism minister in Butembe chiefdom

Jinja is an adventure hub and if we do not make an effort to clean it, the number of tourists who come to the city will reduce because no one wants to tour a dirty town.

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