The project focuses on Initiating and piloting scalable models for promoting the environment and livelihoods based on municipal bio-waste recycling. The growing urbanization in Uganda, at the rate of 20% presents a daunting challenge in the unplanned, high-density urban areas. Upscaling bio-waste recycling is aimed at: a) substituting firewood/charcoal with briquettes and bio-gas for institutional and domestic cooking/heating; b) producing soil nutrients for organic farming; c) producing organic biocides; d) improving municipal sanitation. Innovative entrepreneurial pathways based on stakeholder engagement, partnerships and inter-sector linkages are being created. Entrepreneurial models provide socioeconomic incentives for multi-stakeholder involvement in waste recycling initiatives.

Developing and demonstrating technical & business models of waste-wealth-enterprises (WWE) a. Display of Technical processes for medium and large-scale briquetting which include; sorting solid-waste; dewatering feacal sludge; carbonization, biochar crashing; extruding, solar drying, packaging. These detailed stages of producing commercial-scale briquettes from municipal bio-waste and agro-waste have been documented and practically demonstrated at the pilot site set up by NDU in St Kizito High school in Namugongo. Students of neighboring schools, community youths and other community members are routinely invited to view; and efforts are made to explain the procedures. The innovations that NDU introduced to upscale briquettes production include; i) inventing a commercial-scale carboniser for converting waste into bio-char; ii) designing special cook-stoves or modifying existing cook-stoves to enable them to use briquettes for institutional cooking; b. Entrepreneurial processes; this dimension focuses on the business aspects of producing bioenergy; but it is influenced by technical processes. The prescribed processes are those whose financial costs and technical requirements are affordable to grassroots communities so as to make business sense. Communities are taken through bioenergy production processes whose focus is put on the following; feasibility/cost-benefit analyses; returns on investment/pay-back analyses; branding, marketing and distribution networks; analysis of competitiveness of briquettes and biogas relative to traditional energy (firewood, charcoal, electricity); The proof-of-concept briquettes production project at the High School; The project reveals that; i) an educational institution can depend on briquettes for cooking (without firewood being used); ii) cooking for 1100 students consumes 7000 Kg of briquettes in 100 days; iii) by producing 7000 kg of briquettes, average net income generated is $ 1000. With capital investment of $ 12,250, operational costs of $1000 and payback period on investment at 14.7 months; the project makes rational sense even in absence of social-benefit accounting; IV) institutions (schools, prisons, hospitals, hotels clay-works) are potential markets for briquettes. Other issues to note; i) Different streams of bio-waste produce varied quality of briquettes; meaning that calorific value of briquettes is determined by raw materials; ii) cost of securing organic waste is influenced by the competitive uses of the waste (used as animal feeds; mulching, etc); iii) it is cheaper to carbonize the waste at source and transport bio-char; reducing costs of transporting bigger volume of raw waste;; iv) To make WWE profitable, a realistic value of trees in Uganda should be determined; to be reflected in prices of charcoal and firewood.

Coordination mechanisms Conducting participatory baselines surveys on; a) volumes and types of waste generated in different locations; waste collection and handling procedures; handling facilities available; public and private agencies involved in waste handling; costs of waste handling; alternative uses of bio-waste; determining which waste streams produce which quality of briquettes; b) accessibility/costs of traditional cooking energy, distribution structures; comparative advantages and demerits of using briquettes and biogas for cooking (to determine competitiveness in the market); c) key actors in recycling operations; policies on energy and on waste recycling. Meetings will be conducted with key stakeholders such as private and public agencies and urban communities (determining their existing knowledge, skills and attitudes) and private and public sector agencies Joint planning sessions based on a) outcomes of surveys; b) conducting pilot projects and feasibility analysis (on opportunities, barriers, prospects and gaps on waste recycling); c) stakeholder mapping (interests/stakes and potential contribution of various stakeholders towards upscaling/commercialization); d) prospective frameworks for inter-sector partnerships on waste recycling; e) engagement of the grassroots communities for socio-economic empowerment; modelling interventions based on various scenarios; f) identification of capacity building needs; imparting technical and entrepreneurship skills; g) planning of value addition to broaden the scope of operations of the licensed private waste collectors; beyond collection and disposal to waste recycling; h) stakeholder mapping; highlighting stakes and interests of partners in regard to bio-waste recycling; pooling of resources for joint ventures; areas of convergence in waste recycling operations; determining the integrating cords for partnerships and joint ventures for municipal waste management; Dissemination and publicity: creation of online and face-to-face platforms for planning, development and implementation of the planned projects. Create awareness and sensitize diverse populations about the initiatives and how they can get engaged; various print and electronic media in form of conference papers, journal articles, photos, videos, social media, public exhibitions and websites Sustainability of the project addressed by through the embedded entrepreneurial component. It is presumed that urban authorities, other government agencies and civil society organizations will provide the requisite start-up and scale-up capital/credit for the low-resourced urban communities (youths and women) to engage in commercial-scale recycling operations. Urban authorities stand to benefit from the project which promises to reduce expenditure on waste management from 40% to less than 10%. They are likely to provide start-up financing for the project. Other benefiting agencies who may provide initial funding include National Environment Management Agencies

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA); National Environment Management Authority