Makerere University researchers and international partners have launched a two-year research project aimed at turning restaurant food waste in Kampala into animal feed and organic fertiliser.
The FLOWERS Project, short for Facilitating Local Organic Waste Exchange for Regenerative Systems, was launched on September 10, 2026, at the Kampala Fairway Hotel.
The project, running from 2026 to 2028, is led in Uganda by Associate Professor Charles B. Niwagaba of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Makerere’s College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT).
It is funded by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) and implemented by ETH Zürich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Makerere University, End Plastic Pollution and Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA).
The project will map how food waste moves through the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area and test an intervention to redirect more source-separated restaurant waste to farmers.
Researchers will track both the physical quantities of waste and the financial transactions along the chain to establish whether better coordination can increase the reuse of restaurant waste.
Opening the project meeting, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Prof. Sarah N. Ssali, represented by the Director of Research, Innovations and Partnerships, Prof. Robert Wamala, said the growth of restaurants and other food-service businesses was concentrating large quantities of organic waste in urban areas.
She said poorly managed waste contributes to pollution and nutrient loss, while also creating an opportunity to restore nutrients to agricultural production.
“Rather than viewing restaurant organic waste simply as a disposal problem, the project seeks to examine how it can become a resource within a regenerative system, returning nutrients to agricultural production through appropriate mechanisms for recycling and reuse,” Ssali said.
She said the project was particularly relevant to Kampala because population growth, changing consumption patterns and the expansion of restaurants and food vendors were increasing pressure on municipal waste-management systems.
Ssali urged the researchers to generate evidence that could inform policy, investment and waste-management practices, including potential business models that could sustain successful interventions beyond the pilot phase.
Mapping Kampala’s waste flows
The Uganda component will map and analyse food-waste flows across the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area and experimentally assess an intervention designed to increase the amount of source-separated restaurant waste delivered to farmers.
The research will involve panel surveys of restaurant managers, farmers and waste traders, as well as two intensive waste-measurement campaigns involving trained restaurant staff.
Researchers will also track waste traders’ movements using GPS-equipped bicycles for six months.
Restaurants and waste traders will be matched through a staggered randomised process to assess the impact of the intervention.
Makerere will contribute to three of the project’s four work packages, including mapping waste, financial and carbon flows; assessing markets for products generated through anaerobic digestion, composting and black soldier fly treatment; and national dissemination of the findings.
Niwagaba said the university’s immediate responsibilities include obtaining ethical approval, supporting the mapping of licensed restaurants, recruiting and training enumerators and coordinating with doctoral researchers from ETH Zürich.
Field data collection is scheduled to run from September to December 2026.
Informal waste traders included
The project will also examine the role of informal waste traders, who already participate in the movement of some restaurant leftovers and organic waste to farms.
Researchers said there is limited empirical evidence on how food waste moves through African cities and whether targeted supply-chain interventions can increase recycling and reuse.
A panel involving NEMA, the Ministry of Local Government, KCCA and private operators discussed how informal traders could be integrated into restaurant waste-exchange systems.
The project team said the intention was not to replace existing informal systems but to understand them, strengthen effective practices and generate evidence that can support policy and planning.
The research will also examine black soldier fly farming as one potential pathway for converting organic waste into useful products.
NEMA, the Ministry of Local Government and KCCA presented existing policies and plans relating to organic and solid waste management during the project launch.
The project is expected to generate evidence on waste and financial flows, carbon and methane balances and the results of the field intervention.
Makerere said the research will also involve students, research laboratories and innovation platforms, with the aim of translating the findings into policy and practice.
The university said the project is aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 12 on Responsible Consumption and Production, particularly efforts to reduce waste and promote more sustainable resource use.
At the close of the launch meeting, Niwagaba outlined the immediate next steps as finalising institutional support for ethical review, updating restaurant and farmer sampling frames with KCCA, training field teams and maintaining engagement with policy actors throughout the data-collection process.