Improve garbage collection in cities

Smart cities aren’t just a concept or a dream of the future. It’s a compelling reality that is here with us. 

The precursor to an appreciable smart city is a clean city devoid of litter generated by the residents of the city and the visitors alike. Getting rid of garbage requires patience, conscious sense of direction, resilience, resources and a continuous plan that interrogates the existing litter management practices of the land and those beyond.

The uncollected garbage or litter ends up on streets of Kampala, in the corridors of buildings, and clogs drainages whenever it rains hence causing unprecedented flooding and unnecessary ugly scenes.

It goes without saying that these are causes of many deaths to unsuspecting residents and visitors as they find themselves in the trenches of these flooded areas.  This flooding and lack of proper drainage is also responsible for serious damage to road curbstones, pavements and walkways.  We cannot downplay the efforts put in place and the resources spent to have this litter collected but a lot more work needs to be done if we are to realise the kind of smart city that we dream of in the 21st Century.

There are five factors that affect the efficiency of garbage collection in Kampala City and if these factors are addressed with the attention they deserve, Kampala smart city status shall be achieved with ease.

The first one is the garbage collection optimisation through sentient fuel allocation. Optimisation is the action of making the best or most effective use of a situation or resource.

Because resources are scarce, making the most out of them becomes an inevitable of management.  If we have few trucks, let us allocate more fuel to make more trips for better garbage collection.

I also encourage night garbage collection when traffic is at a bare minimum or better non-existent.

Secondly, the Kiteezi landfill management factor has to be addressed because it currently has managerial challenges.

Some time back we could not deliver the collected garbage due lack of space, lack of utilities like murram which is used to compact and create space for more garbage to be dumped due to financial constraints. Whereas the landfill receives garbage from other surrounding municipalities Kira, Nansana, Makindye Ssabagabo, Kasangati and Bweyogerere, they don’t pay dumping fees yet there are operational costs needed to run the facility. 

There should be an arrangement where these municipalities pay some money to ensure that the facility runs efficiently.

Thirdly, the proper mechanical condition of the collecting trucks and their reliability is without doubt, key in addressing the garbage problem in the city. Available trucks need to be kept in a sound operational state for them to be able to collect and transport litter to the land fill or any agreed destination.

The other problem which must be addressed is the poor management of concessionaires who were deployed by KCCA to collect garbage in the city.

For instance, some of these concessionaires don’t have capacity to collect garbage and that’s why some places remain with uncollected garbage. For us to get rid of garbage, there has to be proper coordination between the concessionaires and KCCA.

The Buwambo Road factor must also be addressed to ensure effective transportation of garbage. Buwambo Road stretches from Mpererwe to Kiteezi and this is where all garbage trucks pass on a daily basis. 

However, this road is in a very poor state and riddled with potholes. Authorities should work towards paving this road so as to enable trucks move efficiently.

In conclusion, garbage collection is a science and an art that needs to be mastered. We need to solve issues and minimise conflicts to achieve the city’s objectives. 

We need to make rational, lucid and sane decisions and take lawful and ethical actions to surpass the best practices in the industry through employee selection, strategic planning, team building, delegating, decision making and the management of creativity and innovation and managerial competencies.

Mr Dominic Ssemukautu is a mechanical engineer.