By Silvia Nyambura
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.
In line with this, Geocycle 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.
The arrangement will see Geocycle provide material used in Hima Cement’s kilns in the cement making process. Geocycle provides 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.
According to Hima Cement CEO Daniel Pettersson, the Cement Industry has the highest level of carbon emission. The launch of this initiative will therefore enable the cement manufacturer improve its energy efficiency by re-purposing other forms of waste and also contribute further to its objective to reduce its carbon footprint.
Speaking at the launch event today, Pettersson 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 carbon emissions by 70,000 tons annually. We believe in a future without waste and our dedicated experts work persistently toward this goal. We take the extra step to solve waste challenges for our customers and society as a whole. State-of-the-art technology, tailored processes and in-depth expertise enable us to provide sustainable, safe and reliable answers to society’s waste challenges.
