Conservation through visual arts

Jul 24, 2023

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An idea birthed at an illegal dump site in Salaama Kabuuma, a Kampala city suburb, is slowly influencing other areas in the neighbourhood.

According to 30-year-old Peter Arinaitwe, a foul smell from the dump site forced him to start clearing the trash.

He began by sorting and arranging it in piles of organic waste, plastics, glass, and textiles. At first, neighbors mocked him, but that didn’t discourage him.

“I kept clearing the trash and using my skills as an artist, I thought of setting up colorful structures from the discarded bottles, some waste bins, and colorful segregating walls,” Arinaitwe says.

His determination soon paid off with residents coming to him to seek knowledge. He soon recruited an army of volunteers and established a community-based organisation.

Within six months, they built a Plastik Talks residence centre, which was made from 2,000 plastic bottles, installed artistic objects, and painted the grounds with giant murals, which was supported by other local artists in the community, who also joined the project.

Plastic talks house designed from 2,000 plastic bottles

The former dump site has now become an education and recycling centre for the residents of Kabuuma and the nearby wards.

Anthony Kamukama, an associate of Arinaitwe, says they are now creating wealth from the waste initiatives for the community.

They use activism to disseminate messages against environmental degradation, including, running art-based workshops, practical demonstrations, and public campaigns using the visual arts, mural paintings, and creative installations to attract the public interest no matter their age, sex, or status.

Activities

Arinaitwe says they demonstrated to residents how one can use food peels to fertilise the soil for the gardens, instead of dumping them.

Also, how to reuse plastic bottles and cans for useful things at home, including pots and containers. They used their combination of skills to create a beautiful fence or wall entirely made out of plastic bottles.

Also, they designed a toilet structure and solid waste bins from the bottles and used old clothes and plastic containers to create quirky gardens.

They created some exceptional sculptures from the bottles, including, a giraffe and giant frog on the site to sensitise the community on how other species are affected by pollution done by humans.

Arinaitwe showing how plastic bottles pollute the environment

“We conduct on-site workshops with pupils and students from different schools in which we demonstrate to them through visual arts and storytelling to engage them in environmental activities. We make practical things, such as bathrooms, waste bins, and art pieces to show the community the creative ways to recycle the trash,” Arinaitwe says.

Impact

Within a year, the once miserable dump site became a positive and clean environment for the residents. According to Arinaitwe, where there was no life, there are now pumpkins and tomatoes growing in the organic gardens.

“We have visited schools, run practical workshops, planted giant installations and eye-catching murals in public spaces and we have been to various districts, such as Mbarara, to protect River Rwizi from plastic bottle pollution and built toilets from plastic bottles,” Arinaitwe says.

He also designed a giant sculpture of fish containing plastic bottles on the shores of Lake Victoria in Ggaba, a Kampala city suburb, as the measures to disseminate messages to the fishermen, residents, and other users of the lake to control plastic pollution.

Challenges

Kamukama says the new residents who often come into the community pollute the environment and need to do double work to also educate and train them.

There is also a lack of capital to mobilise the community and raise awareness, such as printing posters to disseminate environmental conservation.

Making money

The plastic bottles and polythene bags which are collected from the community are sold to plastic bottle companies.

Each kilogram of plastic bottles goes for sh520 and polythene bags at sh400, money which is used to run activities.

Vision

They hope to use organic gardening to train residents on making compost to grow their produce at home.

“We are researching how to create soap from waste oil that people can learn to make and sell and taking inspiration from other community-based organisations to investigate how to make vulnerable materials from recycled plastic,” Arinaitwe says.

They appeal to the government to provide them with machinery which can crush, melt, and mold plastics, although there are low technology options available.

About Arinaitwe

Arinaitwe grew up in Kampala city slum. He graduated with a degree in art and education from Kyambogo University.

He became a teacher before he realised that his calling was to use his creative talent to fight for human rights and the environment.

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