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The region around Lake Victoria in East Africa has been well-known for the manufacture of burnt clay products for more than 100 years. Firewood from large forests was used to fire the countless field kilns (clamps). Clay of good quality is still in abundance. Wood for firing has become increasingly scarce, after laws in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania restricted tree cutting severely. There was no reforestation or planting of fast growing trees so brick making declined The industry has recently been rejuvenated by using agricultural wastes to fire the kilns.
In Uganda's large coffee growing areas on the north-western shore of Lake Victoria coffee husks constitute an available waste material. Rice husks from rice fields in the Southeast region of Uganda can also be found in large quantities. Some of this waste material is now being used by two large and three small-scale brick factories near Kampala.
Developing strategies for reducing production and energy costs
In 1968, the Diocese of Masaka in Uganda set up a brick factory near Masaka with the help of an external technical adviser to satisfy its own demand for high quality bricks, such as perforated block bricks, and also for generating income. Perforated bricks were produced as they use 20 per cent less clay compared to solid bricks, and can be dried quicker. Building with perforated bricks requires less mortar so architects and builders showed immediate interest in the then newly introduced product. Perforated block bricks are still "in" today.
As a second strategy modern machinery was installed for producing the raw bricks, but kiln construction was not much different from that of kilns built by rural brick makers nearby. As the factory was on a hill, the clamp was dug into the slope and this reduced brick setting time by a third because only one clamp wall needed to be covered with mud plaster to reduce heat loss during firing and slow down cooling when the kiln was fired. This reduced production costs considerably.
After ten years of production business declined as fuel became scarcer. Planting fast-growing trees for the supply of firewood was initiated and within five years these supplied 80 per cent of fuel requirements. Brick production became a profitable business again for some years.
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