I dropped by Nkumba landfill that caters for Entebbe Municipality. During the short time, under 30 minutes, that I spent there, I was appalled. I found mostly women scavenging – sorting and extracting that which can be re-used and or recycled.

Immediately visible were piles of collapsed cardboard boxes and sucks of plastics – mostly bottles that the scavengers had extracted out of the landfill, awaiting buyers.  In fact, when I arrived, the scavengers initially mistook me for a buyer, I think.

I regret not having carried along my researcher’s voice recorder for it would have been great to have documented that spontaneous conversation that we had. The lady scavengers educated me on the challenges that they face. They did not have to labour much to explain, because their hardships were visible to me and instantly observable.

I saw them rummage through waste with their bare hands and without any protective gear. They did not wear gloves, masks, gumboots; not even protective clothing, like overalls and or aprons. It was heart wrenching and traumatizing for me  to see and to hear about the kind of dangerous waste, including medical waste, that the lady scavengers handle daily and without protective gear.

Seriously, medical waste should not be ending up in a landfill in the first place. There is no place in a landfill for such medical waste as, for example:

• Dead human fetuses
• Used menstrual products – pads and tampons especially
• Blood soaked cotton from medical procedures
• Used syringes and needles

Why is significant medical waste from medical facilities ending up in the landfill? Aren’t there specific policies and guidelines in place for how medical facilities must manage medical waste, including its safe disposal? Or is it simply the case that medical facilities are blatantly violating the law? These questions need answers. And we, at CPAR Uganda, are determined to seek for answers from duty bearers, as part of our menstrual hygiene campaign.

We know many of you, our readers and followers, are as concerned as we are about this public health and environmental disaster of medical waste in landfills. Through comments to this post, please share with us your views and advice on how we can collaborate to make this project a reality and a success.

Every little bit counts. Together we can stop medical waste ending up in landfills in Entebbe and in Uganda as a whole.