Exploring the Environmental Feasibility of Integrated Sanitation Systems for Uganda

In urban areas of Uganda, management of waste which consists of at least 70% organic content is accomplished by collection and disposal in landfills, resulting in emission of landfill gases among other impacts. Meanwhile, the limited number of wastewater and sludge treatment plants makes further management of sewage and faecal sludge generated from urban areas a major challenge. Thus, integrated sanitation systems which consider combined management of organic waste streams, i.e., bio waste, animal waste, sewage and faecal sludge, are proposed. The sanitation systems consist of a combination of anaerobic digestion and other technologies such as composting, incineration among others. Moreover, the systems also promote resource recovery in the form of biogas and organic fertilizer. The environmental feasibility of the integrated sanitation systems was investigated using life cycle assessment method. The results indicated that resource recovery contributed to the environmental feasibility of these sanitation systems. The more resources that were recovered from the sanitation systems, the lower the environmental impact.