The City of Kigali is trialling a project to sort waste in five sectors (Kimironko, Kacyiru, Niboye, Muhima and Nyakabanda) as it moves to ensure that urban households sort garbage into different categories.
Households in each of the piloted sectors have received specialised bags into which to dispose waste, each category in its respective sack.
Now, there are many benefits of waste sorting, including improving the quality of recyclable materials, processing organic waste into fertilizer, protecting the environment, attracting green investments, among others.
If successfully implemented, the waste sorting project will go a long way in helping manage the issue of waste disposal in the city, which authorities have grappled with for long.
It is estimated that waste that’s dumped at the city’s landfills increased threefold from 141.38 tonnes a year in 2006 to 495.76 tonnes, further complicating the sorting process at landfills.
According to officials, some 70 per cent of household waste is organic and can be processed into fertiliser. This would particularly benefit smallholder farmers, ultimately leading to increased produce. It would also help improve the green spaces in urban settings.
The sorting process would also bring about efficiency with regard to extraction, management and usage of methane gas discharged from waste, thereby resulting in both economic value and environment protection.
Furthermore, with an estimated 30 per cent of the household waste the capital solid material, such as plastic bottles, paper, metals and other recyclable products, waste sorting would ease recycling process and potentially attract further investments in waste management.
Therefore, given the various benefits accruing from proper waste sorting and disposal, it is vitally important that everyone plays a part in ensuring that this project succeeds.
Rwanda prides itself on a record of environmental responsibility and laying a strong foundation for sustainable development and proper waste sorting and management is just as important as other key interventions like action on plastic bags and single-use plastics.