Cameroonian and Rwandan municipal authorities have exchanged their respective experiences on waste management in urban areas. The mission led from 1 to 6 August 2022 in Kigali, Rwanda by the Cameroonian Minister of Housing and Urban Development (MINHDU) praised the effectiveness of smart bins. This pilot project launched in November 2021 should be extended to all cities in sub-Saharan Africa where waste management systems are inefficient.
This is one of the key discoveries of the working mission conducted from 1 to 6 August 2022 in Kigali, Rwanda, by Célestine Ketcha Courtès, the Cameroonian Minister of Housing and Urban Development. Smart bins. These are locally manufactured bins equipped with sensors to monitor waste levels in real time. The bins are geo-located and controlled by a system via the Internet. The sensors send live notifications to the waste collectors about how full the bins are. The waste is then collected and taken to the landfill or to recycling sites.
These bins are coloured according to the type of waste. The green ones are for biodegradables, the blue ones for recyclables such as plastic and paper, while the grey ones are for electronic waste. Also, the sensors that monitor the filling level of the bins are solar-powered.
The Smart Africa Alliance
These smart bins, installed in the city of Kigali since November 2021, have significantly improved the city’s sanitation, making Rwanda an African reference in sustainable waste management. Hence the interest of Cameroon to follow the example of this East African country.
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The objective of the mission led by Célestine Ketcha Courtès in Rwanda was to learn about good practices and above all to identify innovative technologies, techniques and projects in the field of sanitation and sustainable urban waste management. Ultimately, the aim is for the Cameroonian side to appropriate the Rwandan approach to urban waste management in order to adapt it to Cameroonian cities, in search of a sustainable urban sanitation technique.
This vision is in line with the pilot project of smart bins launched in Kigali. The initiator of this project, the Smart Africa Alliance, intends to extend these bins to all other cities in sub-Saharan Africa. For the record, the Smart Africa Alliance brings together 30 African ministries in charge of digital technology and the Norwegian Development Agency (NORAD)
Boris Ngounou
