The world over, cities are kept clean through their respective council authorities. At the parish and sub-county level, the local councilors rally their communities and it’s the natives that do the cleaning job.
For the Acholi Quarters, a slummy area in the Kireka Banda B Zone, the mission to keep the, most of the times, dingy place clean and free of plastic wastes was stepped up a notch earlier this week with the launch of the ‘Dunia’ campaign.
The new campaign; an initiative of the Minister of Kampala Hon. Kabuye Kyofatogabye in partnership with Aliguma Foundation (AF) and the Mukwano Group of Companies will go a long way in helping natives to collect waste products, primarily plastics, from designated places and be able to recycle them at a later date for possible revenue.
Proper disposal
According to the LC III Councilor of Acholi Quarters Banda B Zone Ismail Mukoiko, the ‘Recycling Innovator’ campaign has been established to not only get rid of wastes in the communities but to also encourage proper disposal and forthwith solve the plastics problem in Uganda, in general.
“Dunia will be working with the communities to promote to ensure plastics are disposed responsibly, collected and transformed into new plastic products,” said Mukoiko during the launch ceremony held at Acholi Quarters Playground.
Circular economy
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mukwano Industries Tony Gadhoke enthused further that the campaign will protect and create a circular economy thus pursuing the desired goal through making products from recycled materials collected, as well as exploring new products through the recycling process.
“Our goal is to ensure there is a circular initiative in operation,” said Gadhoke.
“Dunia’s aspiration is to see to it that plastics are disposed off responsibly, tackle the widespread plastic problem and encourage plastic recycling.”
Hon. Kyofatogabye explained further that Dunia wasn’t entirely a new initiative in Uganda as they have been picking up plastics from the suburbs and outlets of Kampala before to encourage proper disposing of plastic waste.
“The sole purpose of this has been to build a circular economy while improving the livelihoods of the communities. We are optimistic this initiative will prosper in Acholi Quarters because of its topography,” said Hon. Kyofatogabye.
“We are also sure it will employ the local community people and they will be able to earn money by collecting the plastics in the community and sell them back to an assured market.”
Playground concern
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Aliguma Foundation Ritah Aliguma underscored the importance of the partnership and predicted that poor health issues would become a myth in the near future.
“As the world continues to strive for better climatic changes, this will save the environment,” said Aliguma, who started work with Acholi Quarters in 2017.
“This will save the slummy areas from poor drainage especially with bottles that get stuck in gutters and forthwith over-flood our playground. The Dunia initiative is a good one for the community because it has an added financial incentive for every collection and delivery.”
Mukwano Group of Companies will pay UGX1,800 SHILLINGS for every kilogram of plastics collected and thus there is no way better than this to build a zero plastic waste community in Uganda.
*Source: Aliguma Foundation Press Release
