In Rwanda, the city of Kigali is implementing a project to recycle organic waste into agricultural fertilizer. The goal within three years is to recover at least 70% of this type of waste from the Nduba landfill.
Kigali puts sustainability at the center of its development. It is in this context that the project to convert organic waste into fertilizer was recently launched in the Rwandan capital. The project undertaken by the Kigali municipality aims to transform 70% of the organic waste generated by the city over the next three years.
The conversion of waste into fertilizer will be done in a new plant, the capacity of which has not been specified. But the facility will convert organic waste stored in the Nduba landfill in Gasabo district. This is the only landfill that currently receives solid waste in Kigali. The amount of garbage has increased from 141.38 tons per year in 2006 to 495.76 tons in 2015, according to the Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC), which provides water and sanitation services in the East African country.
3.9 million project
The waste taken in the future recycling unit will be pre-sorted by households. The appeal was launched on Tuesday, February 8, 2022, at the same time as an operation to distribute garbage bags to the population. The distribution of bags has begun in the sectors of Kimironko, Kacyiru, Niboye, Muhima, Nyakabanda. “It is the success of waste separation at the household level that will allow us to reach the goal of converting 70% of Kigali’s organic waste into fertilizer. We could again subsidize the cost they pay to the companies that transport this waste to the Nduba landfill,” says John Mugabo, a wastewater and urban waste management specialist in the city of Kigali.
Kigali authorities estimate that the new recycling project will require an investment of 4 billion Rwandan francs, about $3.9 million. Part of the funds will be used to set up a modern landfill near the existing Nduba landfill. “We have already issued a tender for this part of the project. The future facility will have equipment to store methane gas, water, manure, etc.,” says John Mugabo.
The recycling project launched in Kigali is in line with Rwanda’s green growth strategy to 2050 and the country’s commitments under the 10-year climate plan recently submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Another project launched in August 2021 in the Rwandan capital is also part of this approach.
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Called “Waste to Resources”, this other project aims to improve the management of municipal solid waste (MSW) and hazardous waste in Rwanda through recycling. The country’s 2030 climate roadmap will also allow for the implementation of a waste-to-energy project. Funding of $28 million (nearly 29 billion Rwandan francs) is expected to be allocated for the extraction and use of landfill gas for electricity generation, which will reduce methane emissions into the air. Also, under this project, $8 million is expected to be allocated for the establishment of waste-to-energy plants in the Rwandan capital Kigali.
According to the latest data from Rwanda’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory (which covers emissions up to the year 2015, ed. note), waste emits 0.64 million tons of CO2, or 12% of the country’s total emissions.
Inès Magoum
