A little more than a year ago today, our entire world shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. What didn't shut down was our willingness to meet new challenges.
In the true spirit of the Global Livingston Institute to Listen. Think. Act., we teamed up with Planet Buyback, and the Lira and Kabale communities to take recycling to the next level. Through the spirit of innovation and collaboration, we created jobs, fostered conservation, and impacted positive change in East Africa during a time when such a concept seemed unlikely, if not impossible.
Kabale – In 2018, with the support of the Kabale District Environment Office, we launched a center to recycle plastic waste in Southern Uganda. Funded by Plastic Recycling Industries, the recycling center in Kabale, Uganda, is fully run by locals, generates revenue, and creates jobs. Currently, the centre collects 25 tonnes of plastic waste monthly and employs 5 community members full-time to manage the facility, with additional part-time employment created during peak times (shipments, sorting etc).
Collection includes plastic waste of PET & HDPE (types 1, 2 & 5).
Lira - After the success of the Kabale recycling center, we launched a strategic partnership with Planet Buyback to open a new recycling center. Even in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, instead of shutting down, we opened up. We brought community leaders together to creatively solve problems and transform their communities. To date, we have recycled over 20 tons of plastic, with goals set on recycling 80 tons of plastic a month by the end of 2022.
Our recycling programs has a clear economic benefit and in just two short years, we have injected 80 million UGX into the economy, creating access to much needed resources. Each ton of plastic recycled reduces greenhouse gasses and improves pollution. Further, taking plastic out of the ecosystem prevents floods, as plastic constantly plugs draining passages.
What we are most excited about however is not one, but two, rural communities are talking about conservation in their schools, churches and local business. A true public-private partnership, strategic actions like these community-based recycling centers contribute to our global efforts to end plastic waste, fight climate change and contribute to overall community development.