Killing Two Birds With The Same Stone? This African Town Is Turning Garbage to Electricity

A town in Uganda is working on a project which turns garbage into electricity that will be connected to the national grid, this is seen as a good move as the project will end the perennial power blackout and at the same time reduce the garbage menace.

The mayor of Mbale Municipal Council, Mr Mutwalibi Mafabi Zandya, said that the project, which was done in partnership with a Swedish investor is in its advanced stages.

The deal was signed in May 2019 and it will see the investor construct a waste management plant and in turn, use it to generate electricity.

According to the investor, Mr Per Brandes, the project would require 100 tonnes of garbage daily to produce on average 60 megawatts of power.

“As people burn this waste, it can spread cancer because smoke is very poisonous. Generating power out of garbage will make the town clean and hospitable.

“In European countries, garbage is very expensive and people are fighting for it because they have known that it is a resource,” he said.

Former President Milton Obote always referred the town as the “Jewel of East Africa” but it has since been grappling with garbage crisis with the most affected places being the Central Market, Bugwere Market, Mbale taxi and bus parks,

 Upon its completion, the project is expected to provide job opportunities, increase revenue and infrastructure within the town.

This is not the first waste-energy project in the East African nation, the country’s largest slaughterhouse, Kampala City Abattoir has a similar project which turns waste into power, it was funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

In 2018, the government announced plans to construct five renewable energy plants in the districts of Arua, Jinja, Mbale, Mbarara and Masaka which are expected to generate 2.9MW.