Women and Climate Change-Sharing Knowledge, empowering Women in the fight against Climate Change

Stories March 6, 2026March 6, 2026

By Davis Bariho Bagamuhunda

Last weekend February 28 2026, I hosted the Women in Climate Change on a learning visit to our factory and waste recycling plant. Mid this week as we observed the World Engineering day under the theme “Smart engineering for sustainable future through innovation and digitalization,” my mind was reset thinking how women and each one of us must re-engineer our processes and systems for a sustainable future not necessarily through mathematics and calculations but through creative thinking and innovation. I thank the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) for organizing this visit and supporting mentorship of young female professionals to take-up pivotal roles in the green growth agenda of our Country-Uganda.

I took these great women (Mentors and Mentees) through our waste to value chain and how we transform waste into packaging and stationary materials. In honor of our departed colleague, co-founder and Climate Change entrepreneur, Rusia Orikiriza Bariho- (May her soul rest in peace), we dressed them with a cancer ribbon and shared our cancer story to remind them that cancer is real. The acute impact of Climate Change is not on our economy, not on our land, not on water, not on food but on our health. The sky rocketing air pollution, the disruptions in our food chain, exposure to environmental toxins are all risks that we may least expect on the cancer radar-eating each one of us quietly and slowly.

I also reminded them that several materials that choke our ecosystems and lead to a climate crisis are part of our everyday use and we should use them wisely as agents of change. As human beings we may not always be aware that simple materials like paper and packaging that we use every day in our homes, classrooms, offices, and businesses require a lot of raw materials, energy and water to produce, distribute, use and even dispose.

Segregating your waste appropriately and sending it to recycling companies like ORIBAGS is part of wise use. Choosing recycled content and packaging over single use plastics and virgin materials is a win for yourself and for our planet. We still have many challenges to level up our recycling rates and end the plastic pollution but small consistent incremental efforts can take us somewhere.

Our recent study on waste generation in Kampala Metropolitan area revealed that majority of the households and Institutions still send over 90% of the recyclable materials to the landfill, incinerate or opt for burning not because they are not aware of the consequences but because our “modern” throw away culture driven by societal paradigm of over consumption supports convenience and rapid disposal of goods than sustainability. The result of our study aligns with what is happening elsewhere in the World. The circle economy report, 2025 shows that 90% of virgin materials taken from the planet end up as waste and less than 10% is currently recycled. It further states that global material consumption is outpacing population growth and generating more waste than recycling systems can handle. Is this different from our Country? Through all this “great convenience” we lose our most precious God given gift-Life. God himself, through his power-as the supreme of the universe, has given us everything we need to live a fruitful life-it’s up to us to use them wisely.

When it comes to recycling, as with most initiatives in the fight against Climate Change, the small things you do as an individual can and will make a very big difference on a larger scale. For example, we know from research and what we have been doing at ORIBAGS for the past 16years that recycling a single ton of paper waste saves 17trees, 26,498 liters of water,3cubic meters of landfill space, 113kgs of carbon dioxide emissions and 4,000 Kilowatts of energy- This is enough to power a standard light bulb continuously for nearly 5 years. If we all recovered and recycled our waste, what would we achieve? -There is power, real serious power in seemingly small efforts from millions of individuals.

If you paused for a moment and thought about your waste generation habits and recycling efforts as an individual, as a household, as a business and an institution, do you do everything you could? Are you aware of the everyday items you use and ordinarily throw away?
Our facility assessment (waste audit) could support you identify and quantify all of your recoverable materials and join our low carbon economy community for the future.

I thank the Women in Climate Change for taking a bold step in the fight against Climate Change starting with things that matter first-Knowledge acquisition. A good and successful fight does not only require energy and muscle. It requires skill, it requires knowledge. The reasons we are required to go to school (where resources allow) before doing anything else is not by coincidence. It is a philosophy that has been tested over time: to acquire Knowledge-Knowledge to fill the earth and subdue it. And we all know that Knowledge is Power. To live a good-powerful life, we must constantly acquire knowledge until we die. Its a mission. If you study and advance your career only to get a good job, you may never get it until you gain the knowledge and skill of getting and doing that job. Knowledge is best acquired by reading information, understood by doing and mastered by sharing it.

I learnt a lot from these Women. We shared knowledge and all of us left powerful. We gifted them an eco-friendly note book manufactured by ORIBAGS and left as great partners of change. We gave knowledge, we gained partners.

If you would like to embark of a journey of sustainability and responsibility for yourself and for our planet, you can book an assessment (waste audit) with us. Email – partnerships@oribags-innovations.com

As we commemorate the International Women’s day 2026 this weekend, let’s give generously, collaborate and support women to be at the forefront-to lead as agents of change. Let’s re-think what we can give to gain from our planet. We are on a zero carbon mission. A mission to create greater business value through profit, people and planet. Join us and we re-engineer together. Let’s give and we gain together.

Wish you a Happy International Women’s Day 2026!

The author is a resource efficiency and sustainability specialist, co-founder and Director at ORIBAGS-a waste recovery and recycling enterprise transforming waste into eco-friendly packaging and stationery materials

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