Drowning in plastic: solutions for Uganda’s environmental destruction 

Manuela Enterprises is an eco-enterprise on a mission to fight plastic pollution through collecting and recycling waste. They are looking for an organization to partner up with and tackle the problem together.       

Plastic pollution is the major cause of water contamination in our lakes causing a serious threat to marine life in Uganda today. It is estimated that 600 tonnes of plastic is disposed of in Uganda daily. According to the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), Kampala city alone accounts for the large volumes of plastic waste, which is littered all over the city. This clogs sewage systems. NEMA also indicates that about 51% of the plastic garbage in the city is not collected and ends up in drainage channels, wetlands, natural watercourses, manholes, undeveloped plots, and on the roadside. In Uganda, less than 5% of plastic is recycled yet, plastic can take over 450 years to decompose completely.

A school of thought believes that plastic pollution in Uganda kills more people than malaria and HIV/AIDS combined. A study suggests that about 14% of children between the ages of eight and 14 living in Kampala have bronchial asthma. When plastic is burned, they emit toxic chemicals causing respiratory problems. Uganda does not have any serious environmental laws on burning plastics and the existing laws are never enforced.

After a few decades, it will cost millions of dollars to clean up the polluted land, water, and air, not forgetting the health problems they could have caused in those years. Excessive pollution will drastically affect the tourism industry, thus causing a loss of millions of dollars to Uganda.

Although there are several people who have begun to produce paper and cloth packing materials in Uganda today; but unfortunately they are not supported and empowered. Beverage companies, both international and local largely do not have any policies on recycling their bottles.

How can we support the mission in Uganda

Our mission is to innovate solutions for waste challenges and fostering partnerships that enhance a circular economy while creating jobs and a healing workplace community for at-risk populations.

Manuela Enterprises is a company limited by liability and legally registered as a limited share company January 2017 seeks to fight plastic pollution and other environment threatening activities by offering a sustainable solution through collecting waste plastics and recycle it into simple, well-researched rubber chairs, salon curtains, music instruments, desk organizers, plastic pots for urban farming, mats, flowers, signposts, food tray, plastic sofa-set (chairs), greenhouse and dust-bins, among others.

We envision a plastic-free and environmentally friendly country, creating income opportunities for the marginalized, and reducing environmental and health hazards in places where waste is currently burned or littered.

Final call to action

In order to ably scale up and achieve our production potential, the enterprise is seeking to partner with an organization that could potentially support the current crisis in Uganda financially, materially, technically. The enterprise is the need for capital investment, human technical capacity, and investment in research and development. The capital investment will also help the enterprise to achieve scale, spur change, and accelerate economic progress.