[wordup] Ugandans Give New Life to Plastic Bags

[Adam Shand]

Source: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/10/ugandans_give_n.php

Ugandans Give New Life to Plastic Bags
by Eliza Barclay, Nomad on 10.25.07
Design & (recycled)

Progressive environmental policies sometimes come from unusual places  
like Uganda, which banned plastic bags in July of this year because  
they have become so problematic for the environment.

Now local and international NGOs are helping Ugandans in a suburb of  
the capital city of Kampala to collect plastic bags and turn them  
into items like baskets, handbags, shoes and roofing tiles. The  
material would otherwise be left to clog drainage systems,  
contributing to flooding, or hurt livestock who eat and digest them.

The bags can also spread malaria -- warm water pools in them creating  
an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes. They also contaminate soil  
and plants, and leak color additives into food. Recently, the United  
Nations Environment Program announced a new campaign with an emphasis  
on curbing production of the bags, promoting re-use, and recycling of  
plastic waste in Africa.

The bag project in Kawempe, Uganda is also providing an alternative  
way for impoverished residents to generate income. "Locals can now  
earn a living through collecting solid plastic and polythene waste  
material," said Nasser Takuba, the division chairman of Kawempe.

Ugandans aren't the first Africans to turn ugly waste materials into  
pretty baskets; last year, we wrote about how southern Africans are  
weaving baskets with Zulu patterns out of telephone wire. And the  
photo above is in fact from another bag recycling initiative in  
Ethiopia.

Takuba noted that the Uganda program has received assistance from  
Water Aid Uganda, the French Embassy and Sustainable Sanitation and  
Water Renewal Systems, a local NGO operating in Mulago III, Bwaise II  
and Kyebando parishes.

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