Nduba Landfill
Rwanda and the government of Luxembourg have launched a waste recycling and management project that will recycle, improve city solid waste control and hazardous waste management in Kigali city.
Codenamed “Waste to Resources”, the three-year project aims at adopting integrated sustainable waste management methods including waste segregation, transfer, sorting, treatment, recovery, and disposal, in an integrated manner and business models to increase the capacity of the waste management system.
The launch of the waste to resource project follows Memorandum Of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Ministry of Environment and the Government Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in April 2020.
The MoU aims at strengthening cooperation and technology transfer between the two countries and to embark on Waste to Resource project by improving Municipal solid Waste (MSW) and Hazardous Waste Management in Rwanda.
“No waste should be wasted. What communities call waste, will be recycled to produce goods that can be reused in the households. This is also in line with environmental protection. As Rwandans, we are not supposed to be dumping wastes anywhere, because it can be of importance to us after recycling. The dumped waste can give us energy, fertilizers, construction materials, electric poles and many other products,” Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya, Minister of Environment said.
“The target is to have waste recycling implemented, even after three years. At the end of this project, there should not be any waste that continues to be wasted. All the wastes can be recycled to produce something of great importance in the community. With this project, we shall embark on sorting and treatment of wastes, this will be the beginning of recycling wastes to produce finished products,” Mujawamariya said.
She added that this is a pilot project which will be rolled out national wide upon its success.
The waste to resource project was launched by Rwanda’s Ministry of Environment in collaboration with Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), European Union, Institute of Transportation and Development Policy, and We Do Green organization in Kigali city on Tuesday 24.
According to available figures from the City of Kigali, waste that are dumped at Nduba landfill sites have increased from 141.38 tons annually in 2006 to 495.76 tons in 2015.
The City of Kigali says the increase of waste is a result of population growth and rapid urbanization.
According to the City of Kigali, the population in the City of Kigali increased from 603,049 in 2002 to 1 million in 2015, and 1,6697,979 million presently.
“The waste recycling and management is not done properly; we expect to get quality recycled products and fertilizers that can serve our community if put to good use,” Pudence Rubingisa, the Mayor of City of Kigali said.
“Currently, we have private companies that collect waste door to door, but they don’t sort it as needed. We shall work with other interested private companies that will be able to sort wastes for proper recycling. This means also job creation,” Rubingisa added.
Despite long plans to recycle waste into usable products in Kigali city, Mayor Rubingisa says solid waste collection remains a concern, and working with the government of Grand Duchy of Luxembourg will be of great importance.
“I am very pleased that this project has started, and sustainable solutions to protect the environment will be realized. However, for the success of the project, public and private actors will work together to scale up the beneficial activities. Therefore, it is really important that the government takes responsibility for good regulatory frameworks and a good environment for the private sector to show its ambitions for sustainable development,” Carole Dieschbourg, Minister of Environment of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg said.
“In this project we will need everyone, we will need every sector to make extraordinary efforts to recycle and secure for us and for future generations. So, it’s a question about deciding now to take action. And, the waste sector, the sector we are talking about today, has a particular role in fighting against the climate crisis and sustainable management.”
