**5. Recommendations for further research**

A limitation of this study is the lack of sufficient data on SWM in Uganda. The research has identified that little effort has been directed towards the implementation of WTE in Uganda as most studies have been focused on the waste generation and composition and specific to just a few major cities in the country. Another limitation is that majority of the data is not up to date. Greater efforts are needed to ensure that more resources are directed towards SWM studies all over the country with a special emphasis on promoting designs and programs to mitigate the weaknesses in the system as a way of easing the work of potential developers.

An alternative area of research could be a case when the GOU partly or fully finances the projects to waive the financial burden on the citizens. With this, the government could register the projects under CDM and gain carbon credits that can be sold to the open market. Also, such projects would be associated with job creation, improved energy security, and reduced deforestation. It is important to realise that the economics and environmental benefits could be difficult to evaluate by the GOU however success in SWM by a municipality was noted as a guarantee to thrive in other sectors.

### **6. Conclusion**

The purpose of this chapter was to evaluate how and why Uganda could adopt WTE technologies to reduce waste volumes. The continual increase in the waste generation rate is evidence that there is a need for Uganda to assess different waste management techniques. The proposed WTE techniques are landfill gas recovery, anaerobic digestion, incineration, pyrolysis, and gasification, and the following are the observations.

Firstly, all WTE technologies are applicable in Uganda because the different sectors differ in energy needs. From this, the GOU needs to remain technologically neutral when promoting WTE. Anaerobic digestion would be the most reliable since most of the waste in Uganda is organic waste mainly from agricultural activities. It is also feasible in residential homes on a small scale to meet heating and cooking needs and in turn, would reduce the use of wood fuels which are associated with health risks and deforestation. Incineration is also considered but because of the reported low CV of Uganda's waste, such a plant would need to pre-treat the waste to increase the CV. Gasification and pyrolysis are noted to be more advanced and better in terms of the products but difficult to scale up due to the technological limitations and their complexity in adapting to inconsistent waste. However, pyrolysis and gasification could be applicable in industries to improve energy security and reduce the demand on the national grid. Landfill gas recovery could be applied at any abandoned site, but it would be limited by a shortage of land near the cities especially with the growing populations. Also, the by-products like biogas and bio-oil could be adopted in the transportation sector in the long run. This would reduce the country's dependency on imported fuels.

Secondly, it is noted that the sustainability of these technologies is greatly affected by the composition of waste as a fuel and the waste must be consistent in physical and chemical composition. Consistency can be guaranteed when Uganda improves waste collection techniques by enforcing the proposed laws and regulations that promote waste separation and efficient waste collection. This would also ensure that WTE plants have enough waste to maximise efficiency. Also, the separation of waste is key in limiting pollution associated with the thermo-chemical processes since it enables the removal of hazardous material.

#### *Hazardous Waste Management*

Finally, WTE must not rival prevention, recycling, and reuse but should complement them when the possibilities are exhausted. This could in turn decrease the amount of waste taken to the landfills. Also, WTE initiatives should not be used as an excuse to generate waste. The country could adopt the waste management hierarchy through awareness programs and enforcing laws and regulations to impact people's behaviours and attitudes leading to reduced quantities of waste generated, to mitigate the issue of open dumping and other associated issues rising from poor waste management.
