Garbage collection in Kampala has improved to 63%, up from 53% in previous years, according to Sharifa Buzeki, the executive director of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA). She said the improvement is the result of strengthened waste management efforts across the city, especially through the ongoing Weyonje sanitation challenge.
Buzeki, who was accompanied by Dr Sarah Zalwango, the director of Public Health and Environment, and Douglas Nsubuga, the Kampala Central Division town clerk, spoke to Bbeg Media during an inspection of sanitation activities in Kampala Central. She promised that KCCA will continue doubling its efforts to ensure cleaner neighbourhoods.
She said KCCA is now promoting waste sorting at the household level.
“We urge city residents to continue acting responsibly in waste management by avoiding reckless dumping of waste that blocks our drainage channels. We are going to use science to turn these wastes into other secondary uses like fertilizers and other recycled byproducts. Therefore, sort the garbage using the blue bin or blue sack for non-organic waste and green bin or green sack for organic waste,” Buzeki said.
Buzeki also revealed that KCCA has bought land in Buyala where recyclable waste will be processed and reused to benefit city residents. She asked the public to maintain proper disposal habits until the waste is collected by the responsible companies.
She said the Weyonje campaign has greatly contributed to public awareness about waste sorting and proper disposal, which has helped raise Kampala’s garbage collection rate to the current 63%.
Dr Zalwango encouraged residents to keep their areas clean to reduce disease outbreaks that usually cost families heavily at health facilities. She called on local leaders to monitor the Weyonje sanitation challenge for 2025.
She said residents will soon be able to follow updates on the Weyonje sanitation website, which will broadcast educational videos on garbage collection, toilet emptying, and waste sorting in the five competing divisions starting next Monday.
Nsubuga commended people in Luzige and Kiguli zones in Kisenyi III for working with KCCA to keep their homes and workplaces clean. He also welcomed partner organisations, including Love Uganda, Makerere University Medical Students Association, with Ureport funded by UNICEF, Seven Hills, Home Clean, PLU, and KCCA enforcement units.
Residents thanked KCCA for the sanitation challenge, saying it has helped them maintain cleaner homes and workplaces. Local leaders asked KCCA to increase the provision of public dustbins, sacks, and equipment for desilting drainage channels that are often filled with sewage and debris.
