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With the increasing awareness of climate change, environmentalists are encouraged to look for more sustainable waste management solutions. One such solution is color-coded bins for sorting recyclable materials.

This system allows people to easily identify which bin to put their recyclable materials in. As a result, this decreases the amount of waste that needs to be sent to the landfill, and it also helps to promote recycling.

To make the idea a reality, Makerere University has launched its Environ Bins project, which is rooting for the sorting of garbage according to its nature. The university believes that by doing this, there will be better management of garbage in cities. 

The colour-coded waste system, which offers a bin for a specific waste category is being fronted under the Makerere University Research and Innovation Fund project. The bins help in the segregation of waste according to its type: Waste food, paper, plastics and other types of garbage. The idea of using recycling bins to indicate the type of waste being deposited into each bin has also been shown to improve recycling rates.

Prossy Nakiito, the Jinja city health inspector. Photo by Doreen Musingo

The project funded by the Government with its pilot project in Jinja city, aims at proper garbage management.

Jinja City Deputy Mayor Fazira Kawuma, who presided over the function on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, decried what she called the adamancy of the communities and the poor mindset over garbage management.

“Our communities have the knowledge on how to handle, manage and dispose of garbage but instead prefer to remain adamant and just litter garbage anywhere they find. This has caused the city to choke on garbage,” she said.

Kawuma said leaders must endlessly sensitise the masses on proper garbage collection and management.

She noted that with the new project, the council will earmark places to place the bins, including parks (bus and taxi), markets and restaurants, which are huge producers of garbage where people can easily dump the sorted garbage to avoid littering the town.

Dr Julius Opiso, the principal investigator with the project, urged city authorities to construct recycling plants that will be able to consume the sorted garbage.

“Once the garbage is well sorted say for wastes like plastics once recycled can attract huge income for those in the sector,” he said.

Henry Batambuze, the chairperson of private garbage collectors in the city, asked the authorities to revive laws on garbage management in the city.

“We have smart bylaws in regard to garbage collection and management but they are not enforced. It's high time the city authorities revive these laws to attain our goal of having a smart city.

Batambuze, however, urged the authorities to identify private end consumers of the sorted garbage since the current landfill in Masese a project by the World Bank, is now at full capacity and faces the challenge of proper management whenever it rains.

Paul Kyaligonza, a researcher with the project, said they conducted research in public places, including schools, markets, hospitals and parks. According to their findings, people wish to keep clean but lack dumping places and suggested the idea of coming up with dust bins that can be placed after every 100 metres.

Kyaligonza said they opted for plastic ones because the metallic ones easily rust under rain or are vandalised by scrap dealers.