KCCA EXPANDS WASTE COLLECTION NETWORK WITH NINE PRIVATE COLLECTORS

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has expanded the city’s waste collection network by licensing nine private companies to collect and evacuate garbage, while banning the use of tuk-tuks, wheelbarrows, bicycles and handcarts for waste collection.

The move is aimed at bringing order to garbage collection, eliminating illegal dumpsites and ensuring that waste generated in Kampala is transported directly to authorised disposal and management facilities.

KCCA Executive Director Sharifah Buzeki unveiled the nine companies during a media briefing at the Mayor’s Parlour on Friday.

These will operate in designated city zones as part of a new structured approach aimed at ending illegal dumping and ensuring timely evacuation of waste.

Kampala generates between 2,000 and 2,500 tonnes of waste every day, putting enormous pressure on the city's waste management system.

Buzeki said the decision to bring private collectors on board was intended to close the gap between the amount of waste generated and the capacity available to evacuate it.

“We are putting in place a system that gives Kampala the capacity to evacuate the waste that we generate every day. This is about bringing order, accountability and efficiency into waste management,” Buzeki said.

Eight of the nine companies have already obtained operational licences from KCCA and have a combined capacity of 1,469 tonnes per day. The ninth collector, with an expected capacity of 200 tonnes, is awaiting final allocation of its operational zone.

When combined with KCCA's own capacity of about 500 tonnes per day, the city will have an estimated waste evacuation capacity of more than 2,100 tonnes daily.

“This capacity is significant because it brings us much closer to the amount of waste Kampala generates every day,” Buzeki said. “But trucks alone will not solve the problem. We need residents, businesses and institutions to take responsibility for the waste they generate.”

The approved collectors are Nabugabo Updeal Joint Venture Ltd for Central Division, Hill Top Enterprises Ltd for Kawempe South, YoWaste Ltd for Kawempe North, MTSL Energies Ltd for Lubaga South and Bigseal Holdings Ltd for Makindye East.

Others are Ecoserv Ltd for Nakawa West, De Waste U Ltd for Nakawa East and Biohaz Waste for Makindye West. The ninth collector will be assigned a zone after the allocation process is completed.

The new system is expected to cover Kampala's 857 villages through clearly designated waste collection points, schedules and household monitoring.

Buzeki said the authority was moving away from an arrangement in which waste is dumped indiscriminately before trucks arrive to collect it.

“We want to eliminate the practice of dumping waste on the ground and waiting for a truck to come. The model we are introducing is bring-to-truck, where waste is taken to designated points and loaded directly onto the truck,” she said.

She also urged residents to separate waste at source, particularly organic and inorganic waste, saying this would improve collection, recovery and recycling.

The Executive Director warned that unauthorised waste collectors using handcarts, bicycles and three-wheelers would not be permitted to operate because of their contribution to illegal dumpsites along roads.

“We cannot continue to have a situation where waste is collected from a home and then dumped somewhere along the road or in a drainage channel. That defeats the whole purpose of waste collection,” Buzeki said.

The intervention comes as KCCA intensifies preparations for the National Cleaning Day following guidance from Government communicated by Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja at a meeting on August 12.

But KCCA says the August 29 exercise will not be treated as a one-day clean-up.

Weekly Weyonje/KCCA clean-up activities will continue as part of a sustained campaign to improve sanitation and cleanliness across the city.

KCCA Deputy Executive Director Benon Kigenyi said the authority's priority was to establish a waste collection system that residents can understand, access and hold service providers accountable for.

“The issue is not simply to collect garbage on National Cleaning Day and then return to the same situation the following week. We are putting in place a system that should continue beyond August 29,” Kigenyi said.

He said Division Town Clerks, local leaders, ward administrators, solid waste officers and the licensed collectors would work together to establish collection points and schedules in communities.

“Every community should know where its waste is taken, when it is collected and who is responsible. That is how we create accountability and eliminate the excuse that nobody knows who should collect the waste,” Kigenyi said.

Under the new arrangement, informal settlements classified as urban poor will pay Sh1,000 per 50kg bag, while other domestic households and commercial premises will pay Sh3,000 per 50kg bag.

Institutions, including schools, churches, mosques and temples, will pay Sh40,000 per load.

The rates were approved by the KCCA Council in October 2024 and will apply to routine waste collection across Kampala.

Kigenyi said the charges were designed to make waste collection affordable while ensuring that service providers have the resources to sustain operations.

“The polluter-pays principle means that whoever generates the waste has a responsibility to ensure that it is properly managed. We therefore need residents and businesses to work with the authorised collectors and pay the approved rates,” he said.

KCCA will, however, remain responsible for waste generated in Government common-user facilities such as public markets, KCCA taxi parks and KCCA health centres.

The waste management reforms are also being backed by additional Government investment.

Government has committed funding for 10 new garbage trucks by the end of the 2026/27 financial year and allocated Sh13b to commence development of a waste management facility at Buyala for material recovery and waste repurposing.

For Buzeki, the investments and the deployment of licensed private collectors are part of a broader effort to transform Kampala into a cleaner and more liveable city.

“A clean Kampala cannot be achieved by KCCA alone. It requires every household, every trader, every institution and every business to play its part. Our responsibility is to provide the system, enforce the standards and ensure that the service is delivered,” she said.

The authority expects the new arrangement to eliminate illegal dumpsites along roads, improve the speed of waste evacuation and provide greater accountability among waste generators and service providers.

By Geofrey Mutegeki Araali

Communication and Media Relations Officer