Every weekend, Sarah Birungi burns rubbish composed of paper, plastic bottles and sometimes old shoes and rugs. ;
The other waste such as leftover foods, peelings of foods and then from fruits, among others, are kept in an old ;kavera, also known as ;kadeeya, that is usually kept at a collection point by some boys.
Unknowingly for Birungi, by burning the rubbish that releases fumes into the atmosphere, she will be joining 6,000 households in Kampala alone, who pollute the atmosphere.
Polluted air, according to experts is responsible for several diseases including continuous cough and flu among city dwellers.
To address the challenge, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), with partners like Expertise France has so far installed 100 air quality meters that are expected to guide city authorities on the extent of pollution so as to find other solutions.
This was revealed by Dr Daniel Ayen Okello, the director of public health and environment on Monday where he joined KCCA executive director Dorothy Kisaka, director directorate of engineering and technical services Eng. Justus Akankwasa and Nakawa East Member of Parliament Ronald Nsubuga Balimwezo while discussing the Smart City Agenda.
“At each point, we want to know how bad the air quality is. Knowing that air quality is good or bad is not enough, we have partnered with Expertise France, and now we are trying to find out, what are those things that are making air quality bad and contributing factors so as to track the problem,” said Okello.
He attributed the continuous burning of rubbish to ignorance.
“People are not realising that the fact that when you are burning rubbish, you are releasing fumes into the atmosphere which are the number one cause of the people falling sick in Kampala,” Okello said.
In addition to cleaning air, Okello added that KCCA is also turning garbage into livestock feed by creating a breeding ground for the black soldier fly at Wankoko.
Black soldiers lay eggs that turn into maggots. The maggots further break down the garbage, but also the worms can be used to feed poultry among other livestock.
Currently, households in Kampala generate about 2,000 tonnes of garbage of which only 1,600 tonnes are collected by KCCA, and the rest is disposed of in unknown places, including drainage channels.
Okello also called on the public to watch out for thieves who steal catalytic converters found in the latest car brands, adding that these clean air from the exhaust pipe before its release into the air.
He, however, added that the catalytic exhaust commonly known as Kisaanyi, is one of the most expensive machines on a vehicle, which is attached to the engines to clean the exhaust fumes before they come out such that they are clean and don’t pollute the air.
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Quelle/Source: msn, 31.05.2023
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