Geocycle, an international waste management firm has launched in Uganda with the aim of providing a solution to waste management that leaves no residue.
Under the Geocycle brand, the LafargeHolcim Group offers waste management services in over 50 countries around the world.
“Our promise is to offer a superior solution to disposing off waste in landfills. Geocycle will collect, segregate and incinerate waste in cement kilns of Hima Cement Limited, in a partnership that is set to deliver a “zero-waste” future for Uganda,’ said Israel Tinkasimiire, the Geocycle Country Manager, at the launch event at the Kampala Serena Hotel on Wednesday.
With the ever increasing urbanization and industrialization, rapid change in lifestyles, Uganda’s waste challenge has grown in leaps and bounds.
There are many urban authorities grappling with huge volumes of both organic and inorganic waste that is poorly disposed-off.
On average there is about 2,500 tons of waste generated in Uganda on a daily basis with only about 10% of this waste disposed of in a safe manner.
Geocycle aims to provide the entire waste management process from collection, transportation, segregation, auditing, as well as disposal in a process that does not require waste to be disposed-off in landfills.
“Geocycle will collect waste directly from municipalities, industries, oil and agricultural companies, pre-process it in its waste management platforms and co-process (or reuse) in the cement kilns. Currently, Geocycle collects, segregates and incinerates agricultural waste in the Hima cement kilns,” added Tinkasimiire.
Speaking at the launch, Daniel Pettersson, the Hima Cement Country CEO said: “For almost 10 years now, Hima Cement plant has been using biomass to fuel its cement kilns and dryer. These include coffee husks, rice husks, bagasse, palm kernels and sawdust which acts as a replacement for fossil fuels. Today, over half of the thermal energy for the kiln comes from biomass rather than heavy furnace oil which means a reduction in CO2 emissions by 70,000 tons annually.”
Geocycle Uganda is already engaging with Fort Portal Municipality which produces approximately 100 tons of waste per day and is in close proximity to the Hima plant in Kasese.
Waiswa Arnold, the Director of Environmental Monitoring and Compliance at the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) lauded the launch of Geocycle, saying the solution will help many municipalities whose waste management processes remain an unfunded priority.
