21/09/2026
🇺🇬 WHAT IF 2 MILLION YOUNG UGANDANS COULD TURN WASTE INTO LIVELIHOODS?
Uganda is a young nation. According to the 2024 National Population and Housing Census, Uganda has a population of 45.9 million people, including 10.77 million young people aged 18–30. The country also has 22.75 million children below the age of 18, demonstrating just how youthful Uganda's population is.
But alongside this enormous human potential is a major employment challenge.
UBOS estimates that 5.25 million young people aged 18–30 are not in employment, education or training, representing 50.9% of this age group.
At the same time, Uganda is facing a growing waste-management challenge.
The latest National State of the Environment Report estimates that urban areas generate approximately 1.2 million tonnes of solid waste every year, while less than half is collected and properly disposed of. Kampala alone generates more than 2,000 tonnes of waste every day.
♻️ WHAT IF WE CONNECTED THESE TWO CHALLENGES?
Imagine empowering 2 million young people with practical circular-economy skills to transform waste materials—including discarded tyres, wood, waste plastics, fabric and papers into valuable products such as furniture, household items and other marketable products.
Consider the potential: If 2 million young people each transformed just one waste tyre every week, that would represent: 2,000,000 × 52 weeks = 104 MILLION TYRES TRANSFORMED IN ONE YEAR.
That is not a claim about the number of tyres currently being discarded in Uganda.
It is a demonstration of the scale of impact that youth participation could create if the necessary skills, markets, tools, finance and support systems were put in place.
🌱 THE IMPACT GOES BEYOND TYRES
