Waste management in the City of Kigali has started improving thanks to a Smart Waste Management and Collection pilot project that has been launched.

It uses locally fabricated dustbins fitted with sensors to monitor waste levels in real-time.

The dustbins, which are geolocalised, are monitored via an internet-based system. The sensors then send live notifications to waste collectors about the waste levels in the bins.

The garbage is then taken to Nduba Landfill. They can also be taken to recycling facilities.

Such dustbins have different colours depending on waste type, with the green ones being for biodegradables, blue for recyclables such as plastic and papers, while grey is for electronics.

The pilot project was launched on Tuesday, November 02, 2021 in Kigali, by the City of Kigali, the Ministry of ICT and Innovation (MINICT) and Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA) in partnership with Smart Africa and the Norwegian Development Agency (NORAD), which are partners in the project.

It was implemented at five sites; Kimironko Public market, Mulindi Public market, Zinia Public market, Mutangana public market and Karama model village. These waste collection stations are solar-powered, and camera surveilled [for security purposes].

(L-R )Mayor of Kigali City Pudence Rubingisa, Minister of ICT and Innovation, Paula Ingabire and .Lacina Koné Director General, Smart Africa Secretariate officially launch the project in Kigali on 2 Nov 

It is part of the government’s agenda for smart cities, according to officials.

Lacina Koné, Director General of Smart Africa Secretariat, said that waste management is a daunting task for the majority of cities in Africa, explaining that this project is a very good start towards addressing the issue in Rwanda.

Koné indicated that $100,000 (about Rwf100 million) was invested in the pilot project.

"We are committed to ensuring that as more people move into Africa’s cities, we use technology to improve the capacity of cities to accommodate more people. Smart Waste Management is a priority for our growing cities and this pilot project will be the first before we scale this initiative across Africa under the Smart Africa Alliance,” Koné said.

Pudence Rubingisa, Mayor of the City of Kigali said that the City’s population is growing faster, adding that it is expected to double in the next 30 years. He indicated that such a project was needed in waste management in public places accommodating many people such as schools, hospitals and markets.

"The City of Kigali is a fast-growing city in infrastructure and population leading to increase in waste generation, requiring us to effectively manage and handle waste using smart technologies. This will help us to enhance the daily monitoring of waste collection and transportation, while segregated, which will help in making use of it,” Rubingisa said.

Participants pose for a group photo during the launch of the project.it was implemented at five sites_ Kimironko Public market, Mulindi Public market, Zinia Public market, Mutangana public market and Karama model village

Paula Ingabire, Minister of ICT and Innovation said that applying technology to waste management to help optimise processes, create value across the waste management value chain, surveil activities at the sites with CCTV cameras and generate data using sensors can support decision-making.

"We intend to leverage learnings from this pilot, to scale to all public markets and spaces and eventually homes,” she said.

She said that the technology is supported by sensitising people to sort waste, manually, at the generation points such as homes or markets, explaining that they are provided with dustbins with different colours to dispose of waste according to their type.

Going forward, she said that there are considering technologies that can help make use of wastes such as through recycling.

According to the follow-up audit report by the Auditor-General on the management of solid and liquid waste in the City of Kigali, which was done in March 2021, Nduba Landfill was receiving 500 tonnes to 550 tonnes of solid waste daily, collected from the City of Kigali.

The pilot project was launched on Tuesday, November 02, 2021 in Kigali,

The report noted that the field visit conducted during this audit showed that solid wastes at the Nduba landfill are mixed because they are not sorted at the source or during collection.

In line with addressing the problem, the City of Kigali said that it has started a campaign to sensitise the community to sort the waste from the source/waste generation point.