Schools recyclable waste collection growing

Poor waste management practices is still the most challenging issue in that people in our generation face on the African continent. Uganda having one of the fastest growing populations on the African continent faces a major problem with waste. With under 10% of sab-Saharan Africa waste collected and recycled, most of the waste is destined for the landfill if existing or dumped.

Uganda has one of the youngest population in the World according to the World Bank. The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) lists as much as 50% of the young population (6 – 18 year old) being in school, there is an opportunity to create a lasting solution to the common problem of waste. Waste to Green last year launched the schools recycling program in which a number of schools in the eastern region of Uganda joined the program.

We decided to align the collections according to the school calendar. The Ugandan school calendar year has three semesters. Waste to Green would align the collections to the end of each semester. At the end of the first semester, Waste to Green was there to check on the progress made in each of the schools that enrolled last year.

Overall there is improvement in the collection. There are more schools now collecting recyclable waste. We visited seven of the nine schools. We were able to collect material the comprised of paper, plastic bags and plastic bottles from the schools. Quantities of each waste do vary with some schools collecting more paper waste than plastic waste. Generally there was more plastic waste than paper. Some schools explained that due to the period being an end to the semester as opposed to the end of year, paper waste would be minimal. We noticed improvements in some schools with dedicated storage rooms for the recyclable material.

The schools that we visited included: Mwiri Primary, M M College Wairaka, Wanyange girls secondary School, Kiira College Butiki, Iganga S. S. S, Iganga boys primary school, Buckley Secondary School.

We would like to thank all the students and teachers that have embraced the recycling program and are working to keep the recyclable waste out of the landfill. We continue to encourage all schools and student bodies that want to learn more and start recycling to join the program.