During the rainy season, Kampala’s drainage trenches overflow not just with water, but with solid waste, turning streets into flood zones and exposing the consequences of poor waste management in a city overwhelmed by its garbage.
The result is flooding, stagnant water, and a ripple effect that disrupts transport, spreads disease, and degrades living conditions in Uganda’s urban areas.
This scenario has become all too common. Across the city, plastic waste is carelessly dumped in markets, streets, and residential areas.
Despite efforts by waste collectors and informal recyclers, many of them young boys who survive by gathering discarded bottles and scrap metal, much of the plastic ends up in drains and wetlands, where it causes more harm than good.
Uganda produces hundreds of tonnes of plastic waste every day, with a large portion concentrated in urban centres.
Most of this waste is single-use plastic, especially from packaging, shopping bags, and disposable containers.
Because plastic does not degrade naturally, it accumulates rapidly in the environment, polluting soil, water bodies, and even the air when it is burned in open spaces.
During the rainy season, the impact of poor waste management becomes more visible. Blocked drainage systems cause floods that damage roads, homes, and businesses.
In low-lying areas, water pools in contaminated trenches, becoming breeding grounds for mosquitoes and spreading waterborne diseases such as typhoid and cholera.
The health risks intensify in overcrowded areas, especially where sanitation facilities are already strained.
While some communities are taking steps to improve their waste practices, the change is gradual. A growing number of restaurants and food vendors are shifting away from plastic containers and opting for paper bags and biodegradable packaging.
These efforts, though commendable, remain uneven across the country. In many markets and roadside food stalls, polythene bags are still widely used, despite being banned under national environmental laws.
The enforcement of plastic bag regulations in Uganda has faced several challenges, including limited monitoring capacity, public resistance, and the affordability of banned materials compared to eco-friendly alternatives.
This has slowed down the adoption of sustainable practices and allowed harmful habits to persist.
At the same time, recycling initiatives, while helpful, have not reached the scale needed to manage the country’s waste crisis.
A few private sector actors and youth-led start-ups are collecting, sorting, and recycling plastics into useful products like tiles, paving blocks, and reusable containers. However, their reach remains mostly limited to urban centres, and the volume of waste they process is only a fraction of what is generated daily.
Uganda’s environmental degradation is not only an urban problem. In rural areas and agricultural communities, plastic pollution is starting to affect farmlands.
Thin plastic wrappers and seedling bags often find their way into gardens, where they hinder soil health, interfere with crop growth, and contribute to long-term land contamination.
The spread of micro plastics through food systems is also becoming a concern, raising questions about food safety and public health.
The economic cost of poor waste management is also significant. Municipalities spend large amounts of money clearing blocked drains and collecting waste from informal dumps.
Tourism, one of Uganda’s most promising sectors, is affected by littered landscapes, dirty lakeshores, and degraded ecosystems. Even the fishing industry faces risks, as plastic debris contaminates fish breeding zones in lakes and rivers.
Effective waste management is not just about cleaning up, it’s about building a sustainable and healthy society. Reducing plastic waste, promoting recycling, and adopting proper disposal habits can greatly improve public health, reduce environmental damage, and support Uganda’s development goals.
Schools, homes, businesses, and institutions must be part of the solution by separating waste, avoiding single-use plastics, and encouraging reuse wherever possible.
Public awareness campaigns can also play a vital role in changing attitudes. Many people continue to dispose of waste carelessly simply because they do not understand the long-term consequences.
By integrating environmental education into community activities and school curriculums, a culture of responsibility can take root among young and old alike.
For Uganda to achieve a cleaner, greener future, waste management must be treated as a national priority. This includes strengthening policies, improving enforcement, investing in collection and recycling infrastructure, and encouraging innovation in sustainable packaging and manufacturing.
Protecting the environment is not a matter of choice it is essential to securing livelihoods, preserving natural resources, and ensuring a high quality of life for present and future generations.
Small changes in daily behaviour, when adopted collectively, can lead to a lasting impact. Saving the environment begins at home, in the market, in the street, and in every decision made about what we throw away and what we choose to reuse.
