Kabalega SS students earn from used water bottles

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After consuming the content, plastic bottles are considered worthless. As such, they are simply discarded, often irresponsibly.

This has had devastating effects on the environment. At Kabalega Secondary School in Masindi district, the situation was no different.

However, following the training of teachers under the Green Schools project early this year, the school has turned the hitherto useless plastic waste into a money-spinning business.

Christopher Kwesiga, the patron of the school environment club, said ever since New Vision trained them on the ways and innovations they can do to mitigate climate change, they have come out with many innovations.

"We dug a rubbish pit, planted trees, and put the manila paper with inscriptions, ‘Keep Kabalega safe from Kaveera’, across the compound. We also collect bottles as a club and make money," he said.

Kwesiga said a kilogram of used plastic bottles costs sh2,000. Since they collect around 700kgs a term, he says, this earns them sh1.4m.

"This money is given to the 42 members of the club as one way of motivating them. We also use it to buy manila paper for sensitisation. We do this not only to make money but also to keep our premises free of used water bottles and also to conserve the environment," Kwesiga explained.

"Because the school hosts many events, including sports, we use some of the money for the club members. The members are also using the used water bottles to make planting bins. We also have debating clubs, where we discuss different issues about environmental conservation," Kwesiga added, saying they want to put much emphasis on growing more trees, especially fruit trees.

"We have enough land, but we lack the resources. If we are supported with seedlings, we shall appreciate it," he appealed.

Alison Gumisiriza, a Senior Six student, who is also the chairperson of the school environment club, told New Vision that following the changes in the weather patterns, they have intensified sensitisation campaigns to free the school and the neighboring communities of plastics and polythene bags.

"We are planning to move to Kijura, one of the busiest trading centres, to collect bottles and polythene bags as one way of sensitising the residents. We are also calling upon residents of Masindi to wake up and free our environment of harmful materials," Gumisiriza said.

Allan Ajuna, a Senior Three student and member of the club, wrote an article titled, "Save Uganda for the next generation".

"My over 100 words article talks about eliminating plastics and polythene bags from the communities as the proper way of keeping our environment safe from contamination. The article shows how dangerous plastics and polythene are in polluting the environment," Ajuna said.

After the training by New Vision, the club members also dug a rubbish pit to ensure proper waste management.

They, however, said they are encountering challenges in sorting the garbage since students dump it anyhow.

"I am happy that members are positively mitigating climate change at school and we expect them to be good citizens in the community after studies. We have also started involving primary schools. We are using Pass PLE, which comes with the newspapers sent to us by the New Vision, to aid the performance of these schools and emphasize climate change mitigation," Kwesiga said.

He said the school has banned those selling different items around the school from bringing in polythene bags.

"I want to thank the school administration for supporting us fight plastic and polythene bags and allowing the whole school to participate in picking the litter. I commend the school administration for supporting clubs such as the wildlife and sanitation clubs. These have done a great job in controlling the litter," Kwesiga appreciated.

Support needed

Stephen Aliga, the deputy in[1]charge of academics, said they have embarked on using energy-saving stoves as a way of scaling down on the use of firewood.

"We have scaled down the expenditure by half since we started using energy-saving stoves. In a year, we would use sh12m, but now we are using sh6m. We request to be supported with a biogas system to help us reduce the usage of firewood and paraffi n, which pollute the environment. We have four energy cooking stoves and four boilers, which are idle due to lack of electricity," Aliga noted.

"We also need to be supported to hold inter-school debates, buy dustbins for waste management, and more trees for planting as a club," Gumisiriza appealed.

The community around Kabalega Secondary School commended the students for freeing the school premises and the neighboring communities from plastics and polythene bags.

James Mugisa, a resident of Katama cell in Masindi municipality, said the biggest problem affecting Masindi town is improper management of plastics, which block drainages and lead to the destruction of roads.

Environment o­fficer speaks out

Fred Kasigwa, the environment officer for Masindi municipality, appreciated the initiative by the New Vision to partner with schools to mitigate climate change, saying there is a need to tackle the mindset of the people on proper management of plastics.

"We need to deal with the young children and inculcate a culture of waste sorting and understanding the different uses of what would be waste by applying the waste management hierarchy," he noted.

"If well sorted, we do not need to transport them to the composite plant. All solid wastes are wastes to those who no longer use them but can be used as a resource if well-handled. The National Environment Act of 2019 spells out the safe methods of waste management to disposal. If wastes are well-sorted and separated, the recyclable material, such as metal and plastics, can be used to produce new products," Kasigwa explained.

"Some plastics contain phthalates, which have chemicals that can enter the body through food and personal care products, which interfere with hormones.

Plastics choke waterways, which sometimes leads to flooding and the destruction of property. They can also kill stray animals and aquatic life," Kasigwa explained to New Vision.

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