Earn income from garbage, youth told

KAMPALA  - In efforts to tackle the problem of unemployment, Ugandan youth have been told to embrace garbage collection as a course of income.

The chairperson of Uganda Youth Mission Against Poverty, James Musasizi, says young people should not sit back and wait to land so-called dream jobs when they can make money out of waste.

Sell things like used plastics and polythene bags, he told youth at a press conference in Kampala.

According to Musasizi, the problem of unemployment in the country has led to idle youths forming or joining crime groups like the notorious Kifeesi gang.

"Over 20,000 youths can be employed directly and over 10,000 indirectly if the government entrusts the waste collection and management to youths in groups in the country," he said.

Musasizi reasoned that the ministry of labor, gender and social development, together with Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), can support the youth by constructing for them processing plants and buying them waste trucks to start operating.

Sulaiman Kiyimba, a youth leader in Kampala, said if youth engage in garbage collection in the country especially in Kampala city, it will help to ease the high rate of garbage disposal on streets and drainages as youths will be eager to collect it to earn a living.

KCCA has contracted a number of private companies like Nabugabo Joint Up Deal to collect garbage in the city. People are charged sh20,000 and above monthly  by these companies to collect their garbage.

Kiyimba said although KCCA and other companies are doing their best to manage waste in the city, they need help from the youths.

Another youth leader, Deo Bagenda, said that a kilo of old polythene bags is bought at sh1000, something he feels young people should take advantage of.