Assessment of the effect of Plastic Waste disposal In Uganda.

Abstract

This report details a research project carried to assess the effects of plastic waste disposal in Uganda. Uganda is a rapidly growing economy and like other modern economies, its increasingly switching from using traditional material like metals and wood to plastics which have proved to more efficient and less costly in production. But most plastic products are single use and are therefore disposed after being used once, this has brought about a concern over plastic waste since plastics are non-biodegrable and some take up to 450years to decompose In this report, all life stages of plastics in Uganda have been assessed from production, usage, disposal and recycling. Its been discovered that the most common types plastics are LDPE, HDPE, PET, and PP and the most recycled ones are L/HDPE and PET as stated by most companies. The recycling rate for Uganda is estimated to below 10% with most recycling plants operating below capacity due to lack of materials. Plastic waste has both negative and positive impacts. Among the positive impacts include; job creation, revenue generation etc. and the negative effects include water and air pollution plus related deaths, blockage of water channels, increased expenditure by the government and many more.