As Uganda's pandemic lockdown eased in May and Namujju got back into the workshop with her team, she realized that those who were hearing impaired about half her 25 workers had a problem: Masks worn against the spread of COVID-19 prevented them from lip-reading. 

Namujju and her team came up with a design that has a transparent screen made from treated waste plastic fitted into a fabric usually cotton mask, and finished with an elastic band and filter. 

A recycling plant in Tanzania’s port city of Dar es Salaam has traded paper for plastic bottles and started making anti-coronavirus face shields that are being snatched up by hospitals and health centres nationwide.

"If they can put them in their own sacks, that will be very good because we are looking forward to working with pharmacies where people can freely bring them and we can collect them," he said.

Among the guidelines for disposal of face masks, the place where the face masks were disposed of must not be used again before being disinfected with appropriate sanitary products.

In addition, the waste must not be within children's reach and must be conserved well until it is transported to the sellers of those face masks, at any healthcare centre or pharmacy.

"All authorised face mask sellers, health care facilities must put in place separate facilities to temporarily store used face masks from the population," the document further reads.

Zoubeda Faida, an environmental activist and co-founder of Save Environment Initiative (SEI), a non-governmental organisation, says public awareness is still needed.