Ban ‘kaveera’ before it is too late â€" experts
Oct 29, 2005
EXPERTS at the Faculty of Agriculture, Makerere University have asked Government to immediately ban the use of kaveera (polythene) as packaging and carrier bags. They said Kampala produces 900 metric tonnes of waste daily of which 14,400kg are plastic waste.
By Josephine Maseruka
EXPERTS at the Faculty of Agriculture, Makerere University have asked Government to immediately ban the use of kaveera (polythene) as packaging and carrier bags. They said Kampala produces 900 metric tonnes of waste daily of which 14,400kg are plastic waste.
Experts added that a family of between six to eight people in Kampala generates 8.7kg of polythene every year.
This means that Kampala with 1.2 million people generates 1600 metric tonnes of buveera a year
KCC spends sh4b annually on garbage collection and it only covers 40% of the total waste required. KCC therefore needs over sh14b annually to collect all the garbage in the city.
Dr. Johnny Mugisha, one of the experts while presenting the report to MPs on the agriculture committee said about half of urban authority budgets go into waste management and yet it is only a small fraction of the waste that is collected.
The study sampled 250 households in Kampala, Masaka and Iganga. About 70% of them recommended the immediate banning of polythene in Uganda.
Experts noted that polythene does not rot it is hard to dispose of compared to other waste such as vegetable matter which decomposes. They added that polythene bags can act as breeding places for many of the disease germs which cause epidemic.
The report compiled in 2004 shows that when polythene bags are burnt, they produce gases which when inhaled lead to diseases such as lung cancer. They also emit green house gases mainly carbondioxide and methane which contribute to global warming.
The environment is silent but it is gone because we are killing it. We cannot wait any longer because polythene is not good for this country. Let us ban it now and the private sector will find an alternative to the packaging gap,†Mugisha said.
The committee chaired by John Odit (Erute) supported the experts and requested Ken Lukyamuzi, an environmentalist to sponsor a motion in Parliament on the effect of polythene material on the environment in urban areas.
Polythene bags are blown from place to place resulting into an unending littering of the environment.
Some MPs said that banning of polythene should be medium term not immediate since there is no alternative packaging.
Others supported the banning saying the study finding would support their motion to the house. They said that NEMA had promised to ban polythene in 2010 and wondered why it could not do it now before the situation went out of hand.
MPs regretted that the banning of polythene had become a ‘gamble’ since government keeps on postponing the matter.
The experts regretted that there is neither an organised system for recycling in place nor a policy on decomposing of wastes or waste reduction.
EXPERTS at the Faculty of Agriculture, Makerere University have asked Government to immediately ban the use of kaveera (polythene) as packaging and carrier bags. They said Kampala produces 900 metric tonnes of waste daily of which 14,400kg are plastic waste.
Experts added that a family of between six to eight people in Kampala generates 8.7kg of polythene every year.
This means that Kampala with 1.2 million people generates 1600 metric tonnes of buveera a year
KCC spends sh4b annually on garbage collection and it only covers 40% of the total waste required. KCC therefore needs over sh14b annually to collect all the garbage in the city.
Dr. Johnny Mugisha, one of the experts while presenting the report to MPs on the agriculture committee said about half of urban authority budgets go into waste management and yet it is only a small fraction of the waste that is collected.
The study sampled 250 households in Kampala, Masaka and Iganga. About 70% of them recommended the immediate banning of polythene in Uganda.
Experts noted that polythene does not rot it is hard to dispose of compared to other waste such as vegetable matter which decomposes. They added that polythene bags can act as breeding places for many of the disease germs which cause epidemic.
The report compiled in 2004 shows that when polythene bags are burnt, they produce gases which when inhaled lead to diseases such as lung cancer. They also emit green house gases mainly carbondioxide and methane which contribute to global warming.
The environment is silent but it is gone because we are killing it. We cannot wait any longer because polythene is not good for this country. Let us ban it now and the private sector will find an alternative to the packaging gap,†Mugisha said.
The committee chaired by John Odit (Erute) supported the experts and requested Ken Lukyamuzi, an environmentalist to sponsor a motion in Parliament on the effect of polythene material on the environment in urban areas.
Polythene bags are blown from place to place resulting into an unending littering of the environment.
Some MPs said that banning of polythene should be medium term not immediate since there is no alternative packaging.
Others supported the banning saying the study finding would support their motion to the house. They said that NEMA had promised to ban polythene in 2010 and wondered why it could not do it now before the situation went out of hand.
MPs regretted that the banning of polythene had become a ‘gamble’ since government keeps on postponing the matter.
The experts regretted that there is neither an organised system for recycling in place nor a policy on decomposing of wastes or waste reduction.