Your Kitchen Waste Can Be a Goldmine

With the hard economic times, individuals and families are increasingly getting shoved into finding alternative means of survival that are affordable. This involves cutting down on expenditure and saving money to cater for other crucial needs.

One such family is that of Dr. Fred Musisi and his wife, Patricia, residents of Lubowa Estate, off Entebbe Road. The family has cut down costs by adopting the blueflame bioslurry gas for their cooking needs and fertiliser.

Kitchen waste saving us

Patricia says before they secured this gas system, she used to buy a 13kg gas canister at sh110,000 every one to three months.

"But since we installed the biogas system in March, I have not bought gas," she explains, noting that the system comes with attendant benefits.

Patricia explains that since they do not have cow dung, they power the system with left-overs from the kitchen, like food peelings, as well as rotting fruits from their garden.

She says before they installed the biogas system, they used to buy two sacks of charcoal every month.

"But besides being expensive, the inconvenience of coming out of the house to light the charcoal-fueled sigiri and even the smoke is just too much," she notes.

Just like Patricia, Azizi Dara, the machinery foreman at the Makerere University Agriculture Research Institute, Kabanyolo, has a similar story on how much money the institute is saving.

"We use the biogas daily to boil about 20 litres of tea every morning and to cook beans sometimes," Dara says.

He notes that before they adopted this technology, they used to buy one sack of charcoal every week. Currently, a sack costs between sh70,000 and sh100, 000.

"Preparing a kilogramme of dry beans takes charcoal worth sh3,000. But, now I do not have to foot that cost anymore, with the biogas, which I use to prepare all my dishes," he explains.

How much are they saving?

Assuming that Patricia constantly bought 13kg gas canisters from a petrol station after every three months at sh110,000, she would spend sh440,000 annually. With the durability of the blueflame bio-slurry gas said to be 30 years, she will have saved sh13.2m.

On the other hand, if Kabanyolo farm used to consume one sack of charcoal every week, each at sh100,000, that meant spending sh400, 000 a month on charcoal. Annually, that would translate into sh4.8m and sh144m in 30 years.

Dara, on the other hand, now saves sh90,000 every month. With the biogas in place, assuming that he boils a kilogramme of beans daily. He saves over sh1m in a year.

Remove non-biodegradable objects

For efficient performance, Patricia advises that the waste fed into the system should first be sorted.

"For instance, polythene material and other non-biodegradable objects should be removed. Even for food peelings, they should be chopped into small pieces for easy decomposition and to prevent blockages," she says.

Apart from reducing expenditure, Dr. Musisi, on the other hand, extolls the environmental relevance of the blueflame bio-slurry gas system.

"It is environmentally-sustainable and indeed, if only about 10% of the Ugandan population adopted this type of biogas, it would have a big impact on environmental conservation," he says.

Dr. Musisi explains that with such renewable energy, deforestation for wood fuel would reduce.

Similarly, he says the system is an appropriate solution to better refuse management in homes.

"We used to struggle with kitchen waste, but we now have a productive way of handling it," Dr. Musisi says.

He explains that the by-product slurry is used as manure in the gardens.

Dr. Musisi also says the blueflame bio-slurry gas system has advantages over the conventional underground biogas systems.

"I have heard friends whose neighbours complain about the awful smell their underground biogas systems emit. Our system is clean and worth having within the compound," he says.

Apart from using it for cooking, the blueflame bio-slurry gas can also be used to run a generator and for lighting.

"We are not using it for lighting so far because we have solar in case power goes off, but maybe we shall explore that," says Dr. Musisi.

According to him, the Government should encourage people to embrace this form of renewable energy, especially people in the rural areas, who largely depend on wood energy.

"Just as they are working on rural electrification, they should also look at this as an alternative for lighting in rural areas. It can improve the quality of life," he advises.

To sustain the system at Kabanyolo, Dara says they feed it with organic matter, such as chicken droppings and pigs' waste.

In terms of risks, he explains that the blueflame bio-slurry gas is safer than the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

"It is absorbed into the air in case of accidental opening of the valves unlike the LPG, which saturates in space and can burn the house in case fire is lit," Dara explains.

Rich fertiliser

Slurry from the biogas system is rich in nutrients and can be used as a fertiliser for crops.

The slurry can also enable farmers achieve multiple cropping round the year, thus increasing household income and improving family health through enhanced food security due to increased food yields.

On the other hand, with increased food yields, there can be surplus for sale, increasing family income in the long run. 

The blueflame bio-slurry gas system is an innovation by Crestanks, Uganda, and costs about sh3.2m. (Source: newvision.co.ug)

Uganda: How Safe Are the Mobile Toilets?

Gone are the days when people would walk several kilometres to find a latrine or nearby bush to ease themselves.

Today, with technological advancement, there has been development of mobile toilets, often referred to as portable toilets or potties.

These are portable enclosures, which are used as temporary toilets for construction sites or large gatherings because of their durability and convenience.

Mateeka Tumwesigye, the regional marketing executive of Crest Tanks, a company that makes mobile toilets, the facilities are made with mobilet, a highly hygienic substance that is easy to clean.

The slab comprises moulded-in raised footrests that slope inwards into the drop-hole to facilitate urine drainage.

"Given the excellent ventilation, flies, insects and foul odour are eliminated.

"There is a total of eight ventilations on each side to permit air circulation from the outside environment," he says. "They are reusable and transferable within a day, which stops people from using the bush because of getting the pit full."

He adds that mobile toilets are light-weight, eliminating chances of the latrines collapsing.

Though more expensive than a standard permanent outdoor latrine, they can be easily cleaned, disinfected, and deodorised regularly.

An average portable toilet is able to hold sewage for 10 people during the course of a 40 hour work week before the hold reaches unsanitary conditions, and they have a lifespan of 20 years, Tumwesigye says.

The downside:

Because portable toilets are not conformed to the direction of a plumb line and keep the waste inside, the sewage may stink, especially when not cleaned properly, when over-used or not emptied after an event. .

The senior principal environment health officer, David Ibuyat, says portable toilets must be maintained in a clean and sanitary manner to prevent the spread of disease, the breeding of disease-carrying vectors and offensive odour.

"The waste is supposed to be discharged into storm sewers, deposited on the ground surface, or allowed to flow. You should not drain the sewage into water. Portable toilets must be pumped weekly or more often as necessary."

The toilets must be cleaned and disinfected thoroughly, including the inner walls, seats and lids, with pumping and chemical additives.

"Unhygienic toilets can be breeding grounds for worms and organisms that can cause kidney failure, constipation and incontinence to the users," Ibuyat explains. Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201307150818.html

Eco-san toilets improved sanitation in Busia

Addressing rural issues such as sanitation, soil fertility and hygiene can be challenging if interventions do not address the causes of the status qua of  lifestyles of communities affected.

Interventions in such communities need not be hurried, but given  a moderate span of time sufficient to enable an elaborate engagement with the community to be able to observe, inquire and make acceptable  interventions with the aim of not only the community informing of ideal living practices and standards, but to provide the long lasting  solutions to cater for behavior change both intellectually and physically.

An ideal case is the health and sanitation situation in Busia district in eastern Uganda, where the Rural Development Media Communication –RUDMEC together with the local government in Busia and other partners have made an impact in transforming the sanitation and hygiene practices of more than two hundred household members in Maduwa and Majamji sub-counties in Lumino county in Busia district and in Kampala Central in Katwe in Nabisalu and Nkere communities.

The project, Community Integrated Ecological Management project –CIEMP, in partnership with Friends of Lake Victoria programme-Osenala programme, with funding from Swedish International Development Assistance –SIDA, RUDMEC is promoting eco-san toilets and tree planting to revive the soil fertility levels in the affected communities due to soil erosion as a result of poor methods of soil conservation. 

The project has incorporated a media awareness campaign through radio programmes to sensitize the wider community on best hygiene practices, sanitation and agro-forestry.

“In 2009, Majanji and Busia town council had the poorest latrine coverage standing at 40% for twenty five thousand people. However, there is an improvement bringing the percentage to 58% in 2011, which is progress made as a result of the project intervention,” says the district health officer.

Beneficiaries of the project confess that they have noticed a change in health status due to the project intervention. 

"We have learnt how to manage tree nurseries and how to use eco-san latrines for domestic hygiene and how to plant trees in rocky areas”, says Bernard Wanyama a beneficiary from Majanji community. 

“Eco san toilets have improved hygiene and sanitation and the manure is used as fertilizer in gardens,” adds Mariam Ajambo.

Properly planned and managed excreta can have a positive environmental impact as well as increasing agricultural yields. Solid and liquid wastes from human activities can be re-used as an option composted to give soil improvement as manure. 

This is one of the reasons that compelled RUDMEC to engage the communities in Maduwa and Majanji in Busia district because the soil depletion rate was very high as a result of erosion, which run off drains in Lake Victoria.

Sarah Kisolo the project coordinator from RUDMEC says “When we were planning this project, we were informed by a report from Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning; the Uganda Bureau of Statistics report of 2008 to 2009 showed that soil fertility levels in Busia district were very low”. 

She adds that “Framing therefore was tending towards swamps which support the lake and as such planting trees is one of the ways of managing soil erosion.”

She continues to explain that from the UBOS report and from Busia district reports, poor hygiene is recorded as high especially in landing sites, Busia town council and at the border points.

"Pollution of water is high in Busia due to open defecation and as such there is high level of prevalent diseases such as cholera, diahorrea and other water borne diseases. Human behavioural patterns are a key determinant in transmission of excreta-related diseases,” she says.

There was also lack of sufficient information to address issues of water and sanitation and the irresponsible cutting of trees for timber, fuel sold locally and to Kenya.

RUDMEC aims to empower communities with proper information and communication tools regarding water, hygiene and sanitation sector and works for behavioral change there by promoting the Millennium goal number seven (7).This is done through community trainings, construction of eco-san latrines, developing of tree nurseries, planting trees and through radio campaigns run weekly in local languages. 

The project will in future train the project beneficiaries in making charcoal briquettes from sweet potato peelings to avoid excessive cutting of trees.

For hygiene behavioral changing intervention one may inquire what the eco-san toilet is and what is the benefit of the by-products of human waste.

Dr. Ssali Aloysius says that both urine and faecal matter can be reused as nightsoil, where faecal matter is separated from urine, diluted and used as fertilizer, and on the other hand humanure is human excreta composted together with food wastes and compounded to give a nutrient rich soil improver.Ecological sanitation (Eco-san), in which urine and faecal matter are separated can be a source of the dry wastes for composting into humanure.

“The construction of eco-san toilets has been a success in areas that are water logged and cannot allow unearthing latrines, in rocky areas and where there is high population”. 

He says the toilets are built from the surface after a foundation is set up. The building is erected and has steps to raise the capacity to accommodate excreta which is later used as manure. Faecal materials go to another hole and urine also goes to another hole. The practice of using ash is the beginning point of decomposing the excreta to kill pathogens. One hand of ash, three cups of soil, soil helps in decomposition.

Manure is later used in the gardens and there should be care during application. Apply the urine after dilution of one litre of urine diluted with three liters of water. Beneficiaries respond positively to the eco-san toilet use saying the impact in farming is good, improvement on hygiene, no more smelling toilets,and increased yields for food security.

For every new intervention, there is a degree of learning. So, for first time users of eco-san toilets, Nakayima Rose from Maduwa community says “In my home we provide ash in a container and visitors have written instructions to ensure proper use of the toilet”.

Hassling  in the ragging  tides of climate change, communities have more challenges which do not only perturb them but also inserts much  stress on the environment. 

The district health officer in Busia says “There is a population explosion that is stressing the environment and health and sanitation facilities are not enough.” He adds that climate change due to degradation of the environment is leading to floods, prolonged drought that all have consequences on human livelihood. 

Uganda joins   Zambia, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe and Kenya as some of the countries adopting the eco-san technology in Africa. (Source: http://www.rudmec.org/programs.asp)