Self-regulation, as a tool for ensuring environmental regulation compliance in the sugar manufacturing industry of Uganda: case study of sugar corporation of Uganda Limited

Abstract

Industrialization in Uganda is on a rapid increase and occupies an integral part of its social and economic development plan Vision 2040 (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 2018). However, new problems linked to industrialization are emerging, for example rising greenhouse gas emissions, air and water pollution, growing volumes of waste, desertification and chemicals pollution (Ahuti, 2015). It is for this cause that industrial processes in Uganda are required to comply with certain practices which could help in maintaining environmental integrity. These requirements are reflected in a number of environmental regulations for example the National Environment (Standards for Discharge of Effluent into Water or on Land) Regulations 1999 and the National Environment (Waste Management) Regulations 1999. To achieve compliance with these regulations, there is need for enforcement and promotion of compliance by the regulatory authority. Enforcement of environmental law is the set of actions that governments or its agencies and other stakeholders take to achieve compliance within the regulated community and to correct or halt situations that endanger the environment or public health (Matovu, 2006).In Uganda; this is done through inspections, negotiations and legal action. However, the insufficient resources to carry out enforcement by the regulating authorities pose a challenge in achieving compliance. In this view, regulatees often opt to undertake self-regulation as a tool for ensuring compliance. Self-regulation can be defined as the system of organizational and technical measures put in place and financed by regulatees subject to environmental permitting or general binding rules, in order to ensure their compliance with regulatory requirements (OECD, 2007). This helps to optimize monitoring systems, and establish priorities for inspection by the authorities. In addition, this instrument combines public and private interests especially through reducing public spending on governmental compliance monitoring and minimizing environmental liabilities to the industry. While this approach of ensuring environmental sustainability is growing, in Uganda little is known about self-regulation among industrial players. It is against this background that the researcher opted to study the effectiveness of self-regulation interventions in the sugar manufacturing industry, using Sugar Corporation of Uganda Lugazi (SCOUL) as a case study. SCOUL is a sugar manufacturing company and relies on the River Musamya for water to carry out the industrial processes and also for discharge of effluent from the factory. Basing on this, the study investigated whether the self-regulation interventions at SCOUL promote compliance to the standards for effluent discharge as per National and International legislation. Five parameters were considered for the study and they included PH, temperature, electrical conductivity, biological oxygen demand as well as chemical oxygen demand.