As Uganda grapples with the effects of environmental degradation, some innovative individuals have come up with means of conserving the environment while creating employment opportunities to various categories of people.
Kuteesa Stephen from Center for Peace and Conflict mitigation (CEPCOM) focuses on sensitizing masses to ensure that they conserve the environment but also generate income from the conservation measures.
“In our operations, the driving motivation is identifying solutions to community problems like littering which is still a problem in most parts of the country. We inspire communities to identify solutions to problems affecting them like through bringing the young people, women and men on board to re use plastic waste to make several items which they end up selling to earn a living,” Kuteesa said.
The sensitization exercise kicked off with Makindye Sabagabo Municipality and Entebbe Municipality where participants were trained in using plastic waste to grow vegetables for their consumption and the surplus for sale.
“We grouped these people into five clusters with each consisting of 20 people both men and women.These collect used plastic bottles and they are taken to our collection points where we do sorting and skilling,” he said.
From these bottles, the participants are skilled on how to start Kitchen gardens which are so helpful for people in small spaces.
“They supplement their diet by providing them with vegetables from which they can sellout some,” Kuteesa said.
The bottles are also used to make unique waste bins which are used to collect more bottles, a positive move towards conserving the environment.
