Turning waste to wealth will save environment

While the Uganda Government tries to woo more investors in a bid to increase the country’s revenue, there is a lot of waste in our backyard that is undermining the economy. By reducing waste or turning it into wealth, Uganda will be riding on the road towards productivity and environmental sustainability, writes Gerald Tenywa

Alex Mukasa who lives about 20 kilometres south of Kampala along Entebbe Road wakes up every morning to battle what he calls the “monster on the road”. His secret in this invisible battle is waking up early so that he is not trapped in the traffic jam to devour his time.

About five years ago, Mukasa used to get on the road by 6am and could get to his work place by 8am. Two years ago, he changed to 5:30am because the congestion got worse.

Apart from time, the jam also eats away sh500m everyday, according to a recent report by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA). This excludes the loss in productivity and exposure to stress as well as the polluting dirty gases spewed by second-hand vehicles.

As motorists burn their money in congestion, sources say a similar amount is needed for funding daily operational expenses including salaries at Mulago, which is Uganda’s national referral hospital.

Overcoming such waste is part of what policy-makers should be thinking about as the world commemorates the UN World Environment Day today. The national activities organised by NEMA are being held at Kalangala, Buggala under the theme; “Think. Eat. Save our environment.”

A report released by the World Wide for Nature (WWF), states that the world is using resources equivalent to one and half planets meaning that the human population is living beyond its means. “Whatever the world produces in 18 days, we consume in 12 days. It means that we are eating into our natural capital,” says Robert Ddamulira, an official of WWF.

UN Environment Programme confirmed this, stating that from 1981 to 2005, the global economy more than doubled, but 60% of the world’s ecological systems were either degraded or over-used. In Uganda, the villages that sit on mountainous areas such as Elgon are prone to landslides because of the destruction of the ecological systems that used to shelter the landscape.

Production and consumption

According to Fred Onyai, the monitoring and evaluation specialist at NEMA, the current production processes and consumption patterns are unacceptable. “It requires rethinking by looking at waste differently,” he says.

Onyai says approaches pegged on the Rs (Reducing, Re-using, and Recycling) would help the industrialists as well as consumers. “We should encourage re-use of materials,” he says.

Charcoal production

Another wanton loss occurs during production and consumption of charcoal, according to John Ayongyera, a private consultant. For every bag of charcoal produced, he says, nine bags of charcoal get lost through inefficient technologies used to convert wood into charcoal.

“Highly inefficient technologies of charcoal are used such that for every one tone of charcoal, seven to nine tonnes of trees are cut,” says Ayongyera. “For efficient technologies to be adopted there is a need to organise the charcoal production sector.”

Improved stoves that would minimise wastage of charcoal and also reduce household expenditure are being used in urban areas, but penetration is still low. “Possibly less than a half of Uganda’s households use improved charcoal stoves,” says Ayongyera.

Fortunately, he points out that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-Uganda is working with Government to design a strategy that will encourage sustainable production of charcoal.

Urban water leaks

According to the most recent report entitled Water and Environment Sector: performance report, water which does not generate revenue increased from 21% in 2009-2010 to 24% in 2011-2012.

“This is mainly attributed to the aging infrastructure in a number of towns, some of which have exceeded their design life and are in need of major rehabilitation or replacement,” states the report.

However, the report further states that, “Collection efficiency has continued to improve over the last five years, from 86% in 2000-2010 to 91% in 2011-2012. This improvement is attributed to the increased vigilance of private operators managing small towns.”

Sanitation and hygiene

Uganda loses approximately sh386b ($177m) annually due to poor sanitation, according to the Water and Environment performance report. “This sum is equivalent to 1.1% of the national GDP,” states the report. It also states that 10% of the population in Uganda practices open defecation, which is estimated to cost the country $41m every year, yet to eliminate the practice requires building less than 650,000 household toilets.

Food wastage

As thousands of people in north eastern Uganda face the threat of sleeping on empty stomachs, a lot of food, according to Dr. Tom Okurut, the executive director of the NEMA is wasted in hotels and urban residences.

“Currently, nobody knows the amount of food that is wasted,” he says. He reveals that a research funded by NEMA will be conducted by a university student to quantify how much food is thrown away as waste.

Other researchers including Achilles Byaruhanga, the executive director of Nature Uganda, a partner of BirdLife International says the marabou storks also known as kaloli have been attracted to breed in Kampala because of solid waste including food.

Waste management

Banada Nswa, the Uganda Environment Protection Forum, a Non-Governmental Organisation says waste should be seen as misplaced wealth. “The waste in Kampala could employ many of the urban poor,” says Nswa, adding that plastic waste especially bottles are exported to China. They are used for making warm clothing for winter.

Other wastes such as banana peels are used by people who are engaged in urban farming in Kampala.

He says waste recycling still has many barriers that need to be addressed so that informal waste collectors survive. In Uganda, more than 70% of the waste is organic meaning that it could be turned into manure and also provide employment to thousands, according to Dan Kiguli, the project manager of the Clean Development Mechanism under NEMA.

Onyai blames the mind-set as one of the barriers to change in production processes and consumption patterns. For instance, pit latrines could be harnessed to provide biogas for cooking and save millions of trees that are cleared in such simple tasks as cooking food. But many people shun ecological toilets that would also be a rich source of manure and pesticides (urine).

Other challenges, according to Onyai include capacity of the industries that throw away materials yet they could be reused as raw materials.

Also consumers in less developed countries are weak and cannot influence decisions of the private sector and Government.

Pollution has changed the colour of water in some parts of Lake Victoria

Industries adopt cleaner production

By Francis Kagolo

Ugandan manufacturers have for long been embroiled in endless battles with the national environment watchdog (NEMA) over relentless pollution.

However, in a somewhat rare gesture, more and more companies nowadays try to adopt Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECP) systems to curb pollution, save the environment and achieve sustainable development.

Cleaner production aims at reducing waste generation, improve workplace environment and reduce emissions and discharges to the environment for the benefit of communities living around factories.

The Cleaner Production concept was developed by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in 1989 as the most cost-effective way to increase eco-efficiency in industries and reduce risks to humans and the environment.

It is spearheaded by the Uganda Cleaner Production Centre (UCPC), a local agency supported by the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), in a bid to save Lake Victoria, the world’s second largest fresh water lake, from severe pollution.

With cleaner production, factories and other businesses like hotels are expected to adopt strategies to maximise resources without compromising the environment.

It may include simple measures like harvesting rain water and using translucent sheets and energy. Other cleaner production measures include recycling of solid waste and waste water and reducing air emissions among others to minimise waste and prevent pollution.

Sewage from a recycling plant sips into a wetland

According to Silver Ssebagala, the UCPC director, cleaner production would also involve simple things like switching to renewable energy sources, reuse of by-products or waste to curb pollution, as well as substitution of toxic and hazardous materials.

“Cleaner production will lead to decreased waste, recovery of valuable by-products, improved environmental performance, increased resource productivity, increased efficiency, lower energy consumption, and an overall reduction in costs.”

Although most industrialists obliviously argue that it is costly investing in cleaner production, Ssebagala explains that besides reducing pollution, companies would save a lot of money if they adopted environment-friendly cleaner production techniques.

“It is due to lack of knowledge that companies continue polluting Lake Victoria and other ecosystems. Pollution would reduce if industrialists realised that they can save a lot of money from investing in friendly technologies,” he says.

Incidentally, companies that have invested in cleaner production attest to his assertion.

For instance, Crown Beverages reported $5,400 (about sh13.7m) annual savings that accrue from harvesting rain water. The company spent $18,495 (about sh47.2m) to acquire a 114,000-litre tank in 2011 to start harvesting rain water. As a result, the company’s environmental officer, Joseph Tomanyane, says they have reduced their annual tap water consumption by 4,433,000 litres, saving over sh13.7m.

GBK Dairy Products in Mbarara replaced ordinary bulbs with energy savers and installed translucent sheets in the factory. It cut its annual energy costs by almost half, saving over $115,77.6 (about sh29.5m) annually.

“I don’t see why one should switch on bulbs in the factory during the day when there is enough sunlight outside!” says Monicah Kamwine, the GBK production manager.

Similarly, the Leather Industries of Uganda (LIU) tannery in Jinja is counting annual savings of $8,300 (about sh21.2m) on electricity after installing energy savers and replacing some iron sheets with translucent sheets in the factory in 2011. LIU’s safety and environment manager Nelson Agaba says the company invested $600 (about sh1.5m) in both interventions, which it recouped in nine months.

He says LIU is saving over $13,700 (about sh35.2m) every year through recycling chrome after installing a recycling plant at $50,000 (about sh127.7) in 2011. With such savings, he expects to recoup their investment in 3years and six months.

Besides, Crown Beverages’ environment officer Joseph Tumanyaye reported annual savings worth over $7,590 (about sh19.3m) after investing $1,200 (about sh3m) on new valves to reduce boiler fuel and air emissions. The company also replaced three diesel forklifts with electrical ones which don’t emit pollutants at a cost of $173,207 (about sh441.8m). they are saving $51,509 (about sh131.3m) annually.