KAMPALA, UGANDA| – The government has been requested to set up collection centers for electronic waste starting right at village level.
The appeal was made by Ronald Kaggwa, the National Planning Authority manager for production, Trade, Tourism and planning.
Kaggwa who is also in charge of supervision and management of Environment and Natural resources, Tourism, Agriculture, Trade and Planning said the challenge of waste management in urban authorities is a very critical issue required to be addressed urgently.
‘This will help us improve the quality of life and also create opportunities of turning waste to wealth and also get opportunities for income and employment from waste.
We need innovations and technologies to be fused in our waste so that we recycle and create opportunities for our people,’ he said.
He explained that Uganda has the poorest electronic waste disposal mechanisms due to lack of disposal infrastructure.
“Our sorting of waste is very minimal, actually don’t almost sort waste in Uganda, yet it is a critical area, we need collection centers and landfills to be put up.
We need to categorise waste, there is electronic waste, like the old computers and telephones, we do not have the capacity in the country to recycle this kind of waste,’ he said.
Looking at greater Kampala Metropolitan areas, Kagwa said that the area has only one landfill which is overwhelmed with its capacity being surpassed.
This he said requires another landfill to accommodate the too much waste accumulated daily.
“I think KCCA in greater Kampala Metropolitan area is considering creating another landfill since waste management infrastructure is very critical,’ he said.
Kagwa was speaking during the closure of the Inclusive Green Economy (IGE) cross country National policy review for civil servants at Speke Resort Munyonyo.
The symposium organised by the EfD Mak Centre in partnership with the Gothenburg University with support from SIDA was attended by Civil servants from Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda to empower them with skills on how to guide policy formation and implementation regarding the inclusive Green economy.
Kaggwa observed the need to involve the private sector which is a key mover in the management of environment and Natural Resources.
Unlike other countries, Kaggwa said in Uganda, there is an over-reliance on regulatory policies observing the need to scale down on them and instead promote economic instruments in addition to an integrated approach that can help to manage the increasingly diverse urbanisation challenges facing the country.
Peter Babyenda, the coordinator of IGE, observed the need to harmonise policies regionally to effectively implement the different IGE policies.
‘For instance, if we ban Kaveera in Uganda, there is no need of other countries in the region to allow it,’ he said.
He added, “Our policies largely remain on paper without any implementation something which must be worked upon.
During the Meeting, Rwanda and Kenya were applauded for proper implementation of most of the policies regarding an inclusive green economy.
Mikel Olofa, while discussing on National policy review of the five countries observed the need by countries emitting many green gasses to consider supporting developing countries to help them mitigate the impacts of climate change.
While officiating at the closure of the symposium, the Minister for Water and Environment in a speech read by the Director csaid Uganda is endowed with water resources, forests and wetlands, biodiversity and ecosystem services, Minerals, Fisheries and oil and gas resources.
He however said the state of these natural resources has suffered severe threats from developments resulting in rapid deterioration of the quantity and quality, degradation of habitats and loss of biodiversity and the associated ecosystem services.
“The legal framework is being revised to cater for inclusive green growth. most notably the national environment Act 2019, the climate change Act 2021, The National Forestry and tree planting Act and the draft National wetland bill,” he said.
He decried the high issues of poverty, high population growth rates and lack of data, inadequate capacity and inadequate funding for IGE among others.
The training he said had provided greater understanding, knowledge and ability to critically review and analyse current economic policies and their emphasis and also provide more practical solutions which IGE fellows will use to address these challenges in their respective countries.
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