Waste Opportunities

The unmatched population boom in Africa’s cities is causing serious sewage problems, and spreading cholera.

For example, Kampala, Uganda—which some 3 million people pass through each day—has less than 800 pay toilets and 14 free facilities. The city sewer system covers less than 10% of Kampala’s population.

A new guard of sanitation entrepreneurs and aid groups are trying out affordable innovations, like “gulper” services that pump waste into movable tanks instead of deploying vacuum trucks.

Other cities are trying out daily toilet passes instead of pay-per-use facilities. And in Dakar, aid groups are working to break down waste on-site to turn it into energy.

AP