An estimated 500 tonnes of plastic waste were collected from Masaka District in the past four years, according to Eco Brixs recycling centre.

According to people spearheading a campaign aimed at ridding the area from plastic wastes, most of the dangerous plastic materiasl have been collected from the suburbs of Nyendo , Kyabakuza , Kimaanya , Katwe , Kirumba and landing sites of Bukakkata and Lambu on the shores of lake Victoria.

Rev Fr James Ssendege, the initiator of the campaign, said they are “aiming at a plastic -free environment by recycling plastics into reusable products to conserve biodiversity.”

He said their campaign was recently boosted by Masaka Catholic Diocese which donated half an acre of land where they are setting up a Shs3b plastic recycling factory together with Mr Andy Bownds, the executive director Eco Brixs Uganda.

Mr Bownds said when the factory is complete, they will be able to increase their plastic waste collection capacity from 30 tonnes to 55 tonnes a month.

“The factory space will house the new machines which include melt blown machine which turns PET plastic bottles into fibre, crusher which makes plastic flake for processing, 4X extruder machine which allows to continue to innovate with in plastic lumber space and 2X injection moulding machine which creates designs specific to customer’s needs ,” he explained.

In an interview, Fr Ssendege also noted that they target creating green sustainable jobs to lift people out of abject poverty.

Currently, the group has already established 30 community plastic collection hubs as well as enrolling 29 schools in active plastic education programmes in both Masaka City and Masaka District.

Out of plastic wastes, Fr Ssendege said they are making products such as terminate resistant plastic lumbers which serve similar purpose as wood or concrete poles, dog houses, tables, desks and frames.

“All these materials are becoming alternatives for wood and soil hence reducing deforestation and brick making which degrades the environment and the fragile ecosystem.

We are also planning to expand our coverage beyond southern region and go to other regions like Western, Eastern and Kampala, but Masaka will remain our satellite city,” he said.

In all major cities and towns across the country, an estimated 700 tonnes of plastic are used every day.

If multiplied by 365, you have more than 300,000 tonnes of plastic a year.

The development of wind energy, a renewable, emissions-free energy source, is widely acknowledged as an imperative to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and the impacts of climate change.

In recent years, much progress in this realm has been made as the cost of developing wind energy has declined significantly with emerging technologies and incentive policies.

Nevertheless, wind farms, generally located in areas with robust wind resources and typically consisting of multiple turbines that convert wind into clean electricity, can be made more efficient.

In Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, by AIP Publishing, researchers from China and the United States examine diurnal and seasonal patterns of wind speeds and their impact on the adequacy of energy production.

“In wind farm planning, decision-makers need to select an appropriate site for wind farm installation,” said co-author Shuwei Miao, from Three Gorges University in Yichang, China. “We developed a seasonal adequacy assessment procedure using historical wind speed data, wind turbine parameters, system peak load, and other important factors that can help inform decisions on wind farm siting and operation.”

Using a two-phase simulation model to simulate diurnal and seasonal wind speed variations, the researchers justify the accuracy of their results by comparing them to actual data collected from a wind site in North Dakota.

The results helped them develop the seasonal adequacy assessment procedure.

Environmental group Greenpeace has lost its case against the UK government over a North Sea oil field permit.

Permission to drill the Vorlich site off Aberdeen was given to BP in 2018.

Greenpeace argued in Scotland’s highest civil court there had been “a myriad of failures in the public consultation” and the permit did not consider the climate impacts of burning fossil fuel.

The Court of Session ruling means operations will continue at the field. Greenpeace plans to appeal.

Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organisation with offices in over 55 countries and an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

It was founded in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, Canadian and US expat environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to “ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its diversity.

The National Coordinator, Clean Nigeria Campaign Secretariat, Mrs Chizoma Opara, has urged all states to take ownership of Federal Government’s sanitation and hygiene intervention projects towards meeting the country target.

Opara, who said this at a one-day stakeholders roundtable on Improving Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Implementation in Nigeria in Abuja, said that the target was to achieve an Open Defecation-Free (ODF) Nigeria by 2025.

The event was organised by the Society for Water and sanitation (NEWSAN).

Opara, who maintained efforts of the Federal Government ought to be complemented, added it was saddening that current effort from states was minimal.

She said that the clean Nigeria Campaign was set up by the Federal Government to make Nigeria Open Defecation-free Nigeria by 2025, through behavioural change.

“Currently, our target is to have at least 200 ODF Local Governments by December 2021, for now, we have just 71 as of today and these were done with efforts of development partners over the years.

“It is sad that there is no single local government area that had led the process from beginning till the end, delivering a local government area is about the grassroots, so that is the commitment that we need.’’

The national coordinator said that it was sadden that 46 million Nigerians still practiced open defecation in parts of the country, saying Kwara was leading with the highest with about 64 per cent of its populace.

She said although the Federal Government had developed a roadmap, with states also following suit, however noted that states ought to make sincere commitment to follow up to ensure project accountability.

Opara stressed the need for all strata of the society to mobilise a new culture of safe sanitation through behavioural change communication and advocacy, saying this would go a long way to create a nationwide transformational culture.

Mr Bioye Ogunjobi, UNICEF WASH Specialist, urged the civil society to hold tiers of government accountable, saying this would go a long way towards scaling up sanitation and hygiene in the country.

According to him, resources are dwindling, hence the need for Nigeria to mobilise funds towards meeting the sanitation and hygiene needs.

He said that funds coming in from development partners were less than 1 per cent of the country’s GDP.

“We are aware that states like Bayelsa, Rivers, and Delta are far richer than some of these developed countries supporting Nigeria, why can’t we see how to mobilise funds for ourselves.

“We cannot continue like this, it must not be `business as usual’, the Federal Government should also release funds for human rights and this can be done with proper monitoring by the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).’’

Mr Benson Attah, National Coordinator of NEWSAN, said Nigeria would need an estimated 122 billion dollars and three times of the current WASH investment to meet the country target.

He said that though the 2020-2025 strategic plan of NEWSAN had a global vision of achieving access to WASH for everyone by 2030, he noted the need for adherence to leaving no one behind.

According to him, the workshop was also an avenue to deliberate on operationalising of the proposed WASH Fund, saying this would go a long way towards changing the narratives.