Rwanda Utility Regulatory Authority (RURA) has urged companies that collect solid waste across the country to comply with regulations that govern the sector so as to improve service delivery to the citizens.

The call is made after realizing that there are some few companies which do not respect the planned schedules for collecting and transporting waste which is among the regulations regarding sanitation.

The non-compliance, RURA says, affects proper hygiene in different parts of the country especially in urban areas.

Venerande Mukamurera, Director of Consumer Affairs at RURA, says that they receive complaints from the public about companies that do not collect solid waste on time.

She says waste collection companies are meant to respect the agreed schedules, emphasizing that a week should not elapse without collecting solid waste from homes, institutions and business premises.  "It is the responsibility of these companies to which they should be committed; they are paid to do that,” she says.

Mukamurera emphasizes that sack-fulls of waste temporarily dumped on the roadsides awaiting disposal should as well be eliminated as it affects hygiene, advising companies to stick by the rules of timely collection of waste for conveyance to the dump-sites.   She  also notes that  constructing temporary dump-sites is not allowed except in areas that do not have access to roads on condition that that such  waste stay there for not more than two hours.

Jacques Nzitonda, the Director of Water and Sanitation at RURA says steady progress has been realized since the inception of regulations about waste management.

"Regulations on waste collection services started in 2011. Before then, there were uncoordinated activities in waste management, where, for instance in one village, there were over five waste collection cooperatives which could not even cover all homes. Poor households, especially, would never benefit. This was a vain effort because one home without hygiene could affect the neighbourhoods,” he says.

To eradicate the disorder in waste collection, RURA in conjunction with stakeholders and City of Kigali put in place regulations so that after due procurement processes,  one company operates in only one sector. 

After the establishment of regulations, waste collection fares were immediately set so that each household could pay a monthly fee to the collecting cooperative depending on the economic status under Ubudehe categories and distance from homes to established dump-sites.

In 2014, the regulations were revised to include other urban centers outside Kigali. An individual company or cooperative is given an operation license of five years.

Waste management regulations in City of Kigali

A cooperative or a company that seeks to collect and transport solid waste in Kigali should own at least three commercial vehicles with employees have safety occupational gears including safety boots, industrial gloves, overalls, nose guards, dust masks, among others, to avoid health hazards.

Other cities

In other cities, a company should have at least one vehicle and workers’ safety gears. It is important for a company/cooperative to have own vehicle for timely collection and transportation of waste to designated landfills. 

Rural sectors

The regulations for rural sectors are different from those in cities because much of rural waste is biodegradable and therefore used in gardens as manure.

Nevertheless, where garbage collection is carried out in rural areas, the cooperative should have a transporting vehicle, with safety gears for workers. The companies should also have signed agreements with sectors in which they operate and citizens as well so that they pay their contribution fees.

RURA is the only body that gives consent to any city or town, company, sector cell, public/private to acquire and operate a dump site.

Waste is transported in different ways; soft and solid waste separately transported because they are not even disposed at the same dump-sites and landfills.

Different types of solid waste are separated to ease recycling and re-use. Solid waste like bottles and plastics  are reused or recycled or, in case of biodegradable waste, turned into manure and  briquettes used in cooking.

In line with improving service in waste collection and transport, the companies have been given deadline of three years to have suitable waste transporting vehicles which should have different compartments or transporting separated waste based on their types (soft and solid waste).

Citizens urged to separate waste

RURA urges citizens to play a role in ensuring better hygiene and sanitation by separating soft waste from solid waste in a bid to facilitate waste collection and transport companies.

Residents are also required to pay their monthly financial contribution to facilitate collection efforts.

RURA says that when some residents do not meet their financial obligations towards the waste collection companies, it negatively affects their performance, delaying the collection and forcing residents to dump waste into drainage systems that, eventually, cause poor hygiene, blockage of drainage systems, silting and flooding in some extreme cases.

Companies owners speak out

Liberatha Mukeshimana working with a waste collection and transport company called Isuku Kinyinya Company Ltd that started the career in 2015 says there has been improvement in waste management in the city over the years. 

"Considering the period we started collecting and transporting waste, service delivery has improved after introducing new regulations. Previously we could lease a vehicle and sometimes we could fail to get one, causing delays in waste collection and disposal. Today we have our own vehicle and timeliness is always assured,” she said.

Jean Paul Ngenzi Shiraniro, the proprietor of AGRUNI Company says that so far they have nine waste collection and transporting vehicles and collect garbage four times per month. 

He, however, says there are some challenges. "RURA encourages us to transport soft and solid waste in compartmentalized trucks yet households have not yet embraced the culture of separating them although regulations ask them to do so before we load them. Households have been advised to separate soft, solid and organic waste for easy collection and disposal.”

Ngenzi says AGRUNI has piloted an initiative in Kimihurura sector in Gasabo district where on Wednesday trucks transport separated waste while on Thursday, they transport non-separated waste.

If companies are to separate waste on their own, Ngenzi says, might trigger increase of monthly fees paid by households.

He also said that companies provide protection materials such as boots and others to workers but some sell them because they have not yet understood the importance of protecting themselves.

"We also face challenges of some households having excessive amount of waste but refuse to pay more for waste transportation even when RURA regulates that a household with over 8 sacks of waste per month has to pay an additional fee,” he explains.