SUWASO – Sustainable and complete waste management solutions for rural and semi-urban environments in Uganda
The SUWASO project goal is to expand the horizons of plastic waste management in rural and semi-urban contexts in developing countries, setting up a complete waste management system based on local conditions and markets.
Waste has a value, and when sorted and processed correctly, we can get new high-value resources. High-quality plastic and metal can be turned into new products, low-quality plastic, and cardboard into energy and fuel, wet organic waste into compost, and dry organic waste into biochar.
Inspecting the plastic collected by one of the waste aggregators in Mityana town (left), The project group visits local workshops to inspect the available tools and machines (middle), NGI representatives visiting REDS' offices in Kampala (right).
However, projects in developing countries frequently address just one or two of these waste streams. Other projects stimulate waste separation but must implement appropriate technologies to optimize value creation and circularity.
The SUWASO project addresses rural and remote locations, generally without access to electricity, and urban to semi-urban areas. Cost-benefit and market analyses of the systems are essential parts of the projects, as the viability of the pilot facility is critical to know whether the system can and should be scaled up.
Municipal landfill in Mityana, Uganda (left) and Waste pickers and project partners at the municipal landfill in Mityana, Uganda (right).
Two pilot systems will be implemented, one in the Mityana district in Uganda and another in Segou and Bamako in Mali. These represent rural and semi-urban settings, respectively.
Strømmestiftelsen is leading the project in Mali, and NGI is leading the project in Uganda, both focusing on plastic recycling. In addition to the focus on plastic, the project in Uganda is also developed in synergy with an ongoing Norad/NRF-funded project that makes biochar/compost formulations out of dry and wet organic waste. This way, the partnership will achieve a complete fit-to-purpose waste management system with proper technologies, optimizing value creation and circularity.
