Youth-Led Waste Recycling Initiative Offers Hope for Lira City

Lira City is confronting substantial waste management issues, with authorities estimating the daily collection of 40 to 50 tons of garbage destined for the Aler dumping site. Despite the implementation of a "polluter pays" policy, persistent heaps of waste marring streets and public areas raise serious concerns about environmental pollution, public health, and the sustainability of urban development.

Amidst these challenges, a new youth-focused initiative, "Wealth from Waste," offers a promising solution. This project, implemented by Global Forum for Development (GLOFORD) Uganda with funding from Welthungerhilfe (WHH) and Wodan, aims to convert waste into economic assets while enhancing environmental management in Lira, Gulu, and Soroti cities.

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Our city usually was very dirty and littered so for us we saw it, the project as a solution. Now we thought again creatively, which people can actually be the solution?

Irene Achen, GLOFORD Uganda Partnership Manager, explained that the project was designed to tackle the escalating waste problem in urban centers and simultaneously create dignified employment for young people. "Our city usually was very dirty and littered so for us we saw it, the project as a solution. Now we thought again creatively, which people can actually be the solution?" she stated.

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Waste now has reached a point when it shouldn't be treated as garbage. It should be treated as something that is valuable.

The two-year project, launched in June 2025, supports entrepreneurs engaged in recycling and waste management ventures, including briquette production, organic fertilizer manufacturing, paper bag making, and biogas generation. These enterprises transform discarded materials into marketable products. The initiative targets at least 100 established waste entrepreneurs across the three cities, with 40 in Lira alone, and aims to create employment for at least 300 young people.

Achen emphasized a shift in public perception, stating, "Waste now has reached a point when it shouldn't be treated as garbage. It should be treated as something that is valuable." The project has set an ambitious goal to recycle four million kilograms of waste by 2027 and has established a revolving fund of approximately 300 million shillings to provide low-interest loans and booster grants to entrepreneurs, fostering business growth.

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Once you treat waste as a way of making money, then young people will embrace it. The community will also see value in it and stop making it, dumping it everywhere, but instead protecting the little that they have to also make sure that they earn from it.