Saagala kaveera!

Mulle ei meeldi kilekotid kohe üldsegi mitte ning ka Eestis olles vaatan kilekotte ostvaid sõpru mõnikord pisut ärritunud pilguga. Teadsin varasemast Peruu reisist, et kilekottide vältimine saab ilmselt päris raske olema ja nii ta läkski. Ugandas pakitakse poodides kõik asjad kilekottidesse ning suuremates supermarketites on kassas lisaks müüjale veel eraldi pakendaja, kes kärmelt ostetud asju kottidesse topib. Ka kõige pisemat asja ostes pakitakse see koti sisse (üksik veepudel või pakendatud suhkur vms). Püüdsin võimalikult kiiresti õppida luganda keeles ütlema, et ma ei soovi kilekotti. Saagala kaveera! Selgus, et selline tõrkumine ajab paljud müüjad segadusse. Kord ehmatas müüjanna vist päris ära, sest neljast ostetud toiduainest jõudis ta kassast läbi lüüa ainult kaks.

Põhjus, miks see kilekotimajandus mulle veel eriti vastukarva on – prügi ja sealhulgas plastikut põletatakse tänavatel ja hoovides ning teeääred on kilekottidest tulvil. Olen aru saanud, et mõned ugandalased isegi nõuavad igas poes kilekotti, sest neil on selleks justkui õigus. Suurte ostukeskuste ostlemisejärgne kontroll tähendab seda, et pead turvamehele tšekki näitama ja siis ta justkui arvestaks omaette, et kas sul ikkagi on kotis ainult need asjad, mis tšeki peal kirjas. Turvaväravatest ilma selle konkreetse poe kilekotita läbi minnes küsitakse mõnikord, et kas müüja tegi midagi valesti, et ta kilekotti ei andnud?!

Naaberriigis Ruandas on kilekottid näiteks keelatud – nende müük ja ka riiki sisse toomine. Siia lennates oli vahepeatus Kigalis ning lennukisalongis anti teada, et väljuvad reisijad peaksid oma kilekotid lennukisse jätma. See oli kui muusika mu kõrvadele. Minu arvates väga hea otsus riigi poolt mõttetut kilekotiäri piirata ning keskkonda ja inimesi säästa. Sellise lähenemise osas pole Ruanda maailmas sugugi üksi.

Mis saab kasutatud kilekottidest? Tõenäoliselt need kas visatakse maha või põletatakse kuskil koos muu prügiga ära. Seejuures eralduvad gaasid pole sugugi mõnusad. Plastpudelite osas tundub seis parem olevat, sest neid korjatakse kokku ja taaskasutatakse. Siin olles muutub minu jaoks aina kurvemaks ja mõistmatumaks prügi sorteerimisest ja taaskasutamisest loobumine riikides, kus selle jaoks on loodud vajalikud tingimused ja infrastruktuur.

Mõnikord tehakse plastikust ka kunsti, näiteks nii nagu alloleval pildil...

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I do not like plastic bags at all and even in Estonia I sometimes cast a concerned look towards friends of mine who buy plastic bags. From a previous trip to Peru I already anticipated that avoiding plastic bags might become difficult and this fear was confirmed. In Uganda all purchases are packaged into plastic bags and next to a cashier in every bigger supermarket there is a person hired to package all your products into plastic bags. Usually it seems that their task is to maximize the number of plastic bags used. Even if you just buy one bottle of water or some snacks, they would still like to pack it into a separate bag. One of the first things I learned in Luganda was Saagala kaveera! Meaning that I do not want a bag. It came out that this kind of negation confuses quite many sellers. One time a cashier was so overwhelmed by my request that she even forgot to register 2 out of 4 items at the cash register.

The main reason why I am strongly against this plastic bag industry – garbage, including all sorts of plastic, is being burnt on the roadsides and the streets are full of plastic bags. I have understood now that some Ugandans even demand a plastic bag in every shop because they feel that they have a right to do so. In big supermarkets the receipts are being checked at the exit and then the security guard kind of estimates whether you have the same items in your bags as are registered on the receipt. When exiting through the security gates without a plastic bag from the same shop, the guard sometimes asks whether the cashier made a mistake by not giving me a plastic bag?!

On the other hand, the neighbouring country Rwanda has banned the usage and import of plastic bags. My flight to Uganda had a short stop in Kigali and the flight attendants announced that the exiting passengers should leave their plastic bags in the airplane. Now that was music to my ears. I think that it is a rather good decision for a country to limit the pointless plastic business and spare the environment from all that polyethylene and plastic-burning-fumes. In doing so, Rwanda is not the only country at all.

What happens with the used plastic bags around here? Probably they get thrown on the streets or burnt somewhere with the rest of the garbage. The fumes from such small piles of burning garbage are not pleasant at all. The situation seems to be a bit better when it comes to plastic bottles because they are collected and apparently recycled and then sold to Europe and China: 

The time here makes me even more sad and bewildered towards persons who choose not to sort garbage or recycle their waste despite the facilities and infrastructure available in their countries.

Sometimes waste can also be turned into art, like on the picture below...

At KLA Art 14 in Kampala, The Boda Boda Project.