By Dr. Ivan Busulwa
Introduction
My dad is getting old, and he has started losing his filter. He often says things that are inappropriate or mildly insensitive while everyone else is tiptoeing around the elephant in the room. It can be uncomfortable for those aware of his early-onset dementia. But sometimes he surprises even those of us who know him well.
Recently, I was driving him home from a family event. As he sipped the last few drops of his soda from a plastic bottle, he lowered the window and tossed the bottle outside the car. Wide-eyed and open-mouthed, I asked him why he had done that. He said he did not want to leave any trash in the car since the car was clean. I thought he was having a temporary bout of amnesia since the dad of my younger days could never condone such behavior. But then a much younger colleague I was driving a month later gave the same reason for similar behavior.
The Issue
With the fast-paced local news cycle, it’s easy to forget that five months ago, NEMA—the national authority in charge of the environment, gave all private car owners a few days to abide by the mandate to place trash cans/dust bins in their personal cars. Littering harms the environment, animals, and people alike, stealing from the aesthetic appeal of a city.
I often fall behind on the news, so my mother is how I learned about NEMA’s developments. She felt obliged to buy me a bucket on our stop by the market. My mother excels at many skills, but humor is not one of them. So, despite my initial confusion, the seriousness of her action quickly dawned on me. I started thinking about the several easier-to-police, less invasive avenues to keep our cities and roads clean.
Why it’s not the Best Way to Reduce Littering
In a world dominated by headlines about climate change and constantly evolving technologies, NEMA’s directive is justified. But well-intentioned as it was, there are more effective ways of changing behavior in a society. If the lack of trash cans in private cars was one of the main causes of littering, then a few things don’t add up. Many private vehicles already have the equivalent of multiple trash cans: multiple cup holders by the doors and below the dashboard.
These can hold more than enough trash generated by a family of five. Educating people to repurpose some of these cup holders, instead of asking them to install additional bins they will continue not to use, would be a good start. It should be worrying that the mandate was averted only because of its legality – not because of its limited potential to keep the city clean. NEMA postponed its plans after the Uganda Law Society objected, saying there is no law that allows NEMA to do that. I expected to hear more public health voices on the issue and have it dismissed on flawed assumptions.
As many development organizations that have tried to get people to change their habits will tell you, behavior change often takes more than a mandate. While promoting condom use to prevent the spread of HIV, making condoms available did not always mean people used them. Social conditioning, partner consent, the stigma around their use, and taking the path of least resistance, all meant that more was needed to increase their utilization. All issues had to be addressed in tandem. We needed to integrate condom services with other prevention initiatives such as educating people about their benefits or empowering women and girls to negotiate with their partners. Those who turned up for voluntary testing also received free condom samples. Such carrot-and-stick approaches make it easier for people to adopt the desired behavior change.
Similar interventions in private vehicles would involve rewarding those found with rubbish in their trash compartments with, say, a free parking ticket. If you knew you might be rewarded with something if you were randomly stopped, you would be incentivized to hold onto that trash a little longer. Positive reinforcement is almost always better than negative punishment. But in the case of the private car mandate, there are hardly any carrots, and the stick is too large. The proposed fine of UGX 6 million ($1,600) for driving a car without a trash can, is incommensurate with the transgression. For comparison, a speeding ticket, given for a much more dangerous act, only sets you back UGX 200,000 ($50).
Moreover, most Ugandans don’t own vehicles. Based on numbers alone, pedestrians likely contribute a larger proportion of the litter on roads and cities than any amount private car drivers could with their best littering efforts. But because the act of throwing a can outside the window is much more visible from your car than that of a pedestrian clandestinely tossing their tissue as they walk, it grabs more attention.
To discourage this behavior, an effective initial step would be to increase the availability of trash cans throughout the city. If a habit is too cumbersome, there’s little incentive to carry it out. I’ve walked around the city numerous times with trash in my palms as they got sweaty simply because I could not find a bin to place the trash in.
An Easy Way Out
Like many Ugandans my age, I went through my primary school years knowing little about proper waste management. The importance of reducing unnecessary use of materials, reusing materials to reduce litter or recycling, I learned much later in life. A quick review of the current primary curriculum showed that waste disposal is a sub-topic in Primary Two taught under the theme, “Transport in our Community.” Commendable but more can be done. Children should be continuously taught about the importance of not littering throughout their primary education.
Just like we learn to wash our hands in school and grow up doing so, learning about, and practicing proper waste disposal from an early age can make these habits natural. Coming up with training on proper waste management in schools should be a government priority. This can be achieved by making environmental health a core part of the curriculum. Early health education is one of the reasons we have near-universal immunization rates. Because its benefits are taught in schools, by the time parents get to their child-bearing age, they do not need to be mandated to take their children for immunization.
Conclusion
A clean environment is a shared responsibility, and everyone must contribute to its upkeep. Reflecting on my dad’s and my friends’ reasons for littering, it’s clear that their actions were influenced by the perception that the external environment was already dirty while their immediate surroundings were clean. Adding one small bottle to the hundreds of others outside seemed inconsequential, and they believed they were helping by keeping my car tidy. So, how can we encourage them to value environmental cleanliness as much as they do a clean car?
Entering a clean space often instills a sense of obligation to maintain it. Think of visiting a friend’s house where everything is neatly arranged; you’d hesitate before leaving anything out of place. Conversely, in a messy friend’s house, you’d tread carefully, eager to prevent any dirt from soiling your clothes. The same principle applies to environmental cleanliness. Merely imposing more rules won’t change people’s littering habits; it will only burden law enforcement further. To foster a cleaner environment, authorities should lead by example and commit to keeping the environment clean.
Experience supports this approach. Kigali, Rwanda, renowned for its clean streets, relies on effective municipal waste management, strict littering laws, and a strong community ethos. Installing more trash cans, engaging the community in cleanup initiatives, and educating people from a young age can all contribute to cleaner surroundings. When someone tosses litter onto a well-maintained lawn, it stands out, motivating them to pick it up.
Private car drivers are more likely to litter not because they lack trash bags but because the cost to them is negligible. They gain no direct benefit from a clean city, only from a clean car. Providing incentives to car owners, along with educating the younger generation about the environmental consequences of littering, are non-intrusive, cost-effective measures to address the issue.
Despite my dad’s occasional memory lapses, some of his habits remain ingrained. He instinctively washes his hands before leaving the restroom and before meals, a lesson learned six decades ago. If he had also learned about responsible waste disposal during that time, it’s likely he’d still be on autopilot when it comes to keeping our environment clean.