Browsing: Pollution

• Uganda’s booming second-hand clothing market supports thousands of livelihoods but generates massive textile waste, with up to 48 tonnes discarded daily, most of it ending up in landfills.
• While informal waste collectors and tailors repurpose some textiles, the country lacks structured recycling systems, exacerbating environmental challenges.
• The Uganda Circular Textiles Project presents a solution by promoting upcycling and a circular textile economy, which could create green jobs, reduce waste, and attract investment in sustainable fashion.

In Uganda’s Owino market, one has to muscle their way as stalls overflow with piles of second-hand clothing, with traders out-shouting each other to win bargain-hunters looking for affordable fashion.

From trendy jeans to branded jackets, the market offers a vast selection at prices that fit virtually every pocket. At the moment, Uganda is one of Africa’s largest importers of second-hand clothing, bringing in 80 million kilograms in 2023 alone, generating US$70.85 million in tax …

In the wake of the ongoing devastating drought that continues to ravage the Horn of Africa at an alarming rate, it is imperative to urgently redress Africa’s perennial water crisis. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that communities in the Horn of Africa are experiencing one of the most severe La Niña-induced droughts leading Kenya and Somalia to declare national emergencies due to poor and unpredictable rainy seasons. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), an estimated 13 million people are grappling with a major drought caused by the driest conditions since 1981.

This has been the aftermath of three failed rainy seasons in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia that have led to extreme water shortages, consequently leading to the decimation of crops and livestock deaths, forcing families from their homes and triggering conflict between communities. The root of this deleterious crisis has been climate …

Plans to construct the first state-of-the-art Kigali Central Sewerage System plant by 2022, could leave investors in Rwanda will a less burden of a requirement to construct individual sewerage systems underneath structures.

Construction of all commercial housing projects in Kigali city have been required to build their own septic tanks or mini waste treatment plants which is costly in construction and daily maintenance with the latter requiring foreign expertise.

“With the new central system we may not require investors to build their own systems, because the current network will be connected to the central system. This option is possible and will be deliberated after the plant is complete,” Parfait Busabizwa, the Kigali city Vice Mayor in charge of economic development said.

Kigali’s first wastewater network and treatment plant is expected to improve city hygiene especially during the rainy days, reduce air pollution as well as make Kigali an even better …