Africa | 101Recycling in AfricaAfrica’s inappropriate waste management is causing economic, social and environmental problems. However, there are some positive signs, writes L&L’s Africa correspondent, Gill Loubserfrica currently recycles only 4 percent of its waste – a far cry from the African Union’s vision of its cities recycling at least 50 percent of generated waste by 2023. Consider this Aagainst the fact that some 70-80 percent of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is thought to be recyclable.The reality is that some 90 percent of Africa’s waste is disposed of at uncontrolled dumpsites and landflls, often with associated open burning. This discouraging scenario frst came to light when the UN’s Environment Program and South Africa’s Council for Scientifc & Industrial Research published an initial Africa Waste Management Outlook that reported on the state of waste management in Africa. Africa currently recycles only 4 percent of its waste – The researchers declared that Africa’s frst priority was to address a far cry from the African Union’s vision of African cities public health imperatives by ensuring that all citizens have access recycling at least 50 percent of generated waste by 2023to proper waste management services. Comprehensive, reliable and regular city cleansing and controlled waste disposal is the “Against the minuscule recycling foundation of any integrated waste management system.The second priority was harnessing waste as a resource – rate across the continent, South unlocking socio-economic opportunities by moving waste up the management hierarchy, away from disposal and towards prevention, Africa stands out as a leading light”reuse, recovery and recycling.Against the minuscule recycling rate across the continent, South plastics into clean cooking gas for those living in poverty. Africa stands out as a leading light. In 2021, South Africa consumed Such inspiring projects earned each fnalist a 24,000 USD grant approximately 3.4 million tons of packaging (glass, paper, metal to grow ideas, demonstrate their scalability and advance solutions and plastic), of which approximately 54 percent was collected to plastics waste management. for recycling, compared to the 4 percent continental average. The Canadian government’s Minister of International Apart from South Africa’s success story, the situation remains Development, Harjit Sajjan, looks forward to watching the growth gloomy: collection services in most African countries are woefully of these projects: ‘As custodians of the longest coastline in the inadequate. The average MSW collection rate is paltry (mostly world, our responsibility to the health of the oceans does not organic waste), and the bulk of which is dumped but could provide stop at the edge of Canada’s waters,’ he points out. ‘The global signifcant socio-economic opportunities. marine ecosystem is complex and deeply interconnected – plastics Across Africa, recycling is emerging as a viable enterprise, driven pollution in sub-Saharan Africa has global consequences once it more by poverty, unemployment and socio-economic need than by enters lakes, rivers and ocean.public or private sector design. According to Matthew Haden, founder of The Recycler, a An army of informal waste-pickers makes a living by recovering Tanzanian enterprise that offers professional waste management valuable resources at little to no cost to municipalities or private and recycling solutions, his business specializes in separating all companies. kinds of recyclable waste in order to process and trade on domestic So, it’s not all negative news: here are some bright spots. and international markets.‘Besides being a recycling company, however, we’re looking into Recycling challenge to Africa’s plastics problem innovative ways to manage waste and hope to offer zero waste to Recently, 15 innovative projects were chosen as fnalists in the landfll in the near future,’ he comments.frst round of the Afri-Plastics Challenge, funded by the Canadian Tanzania’s biggest city, Dar es Salaam, has a serious waste government. problem. It has been ranked as one of the dirtiest cities in the Entries included many ideas for the reuse and recycling of plastic world (Forbes, NYC Partnership Consulting). The city produces an waste from across sub-Saharan Africa, including Côte d’Ivoire, DR estimated 3,000 tons of waste daily, of which only 40 percent Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Togo. ends up in the designated landfll. The rest is either burned or The challenge had three elements: Creating Solutions, Promoting illegally dumped. The rivers are jam-packed with waste, and when Change and Accelerating Growth. the rains come, the debris exacerbates the city’s poor drainage In the frst, 25 semi-fnalists devised innovative ways to reduce and causes fooding. the volume of packaging and plastic products before consumption, Even if waste does make it to the legal landfll at Pugu, 35km while the second element sought out projects and creative away, the story is a little better. The municipality cannot manage campaigns to infuence behavioral change and promote sustainable the quantity of waste and material continually combusts owing plastic consumption. to the release of methane. There are signifcant quantities of In the third sector, Accelerating Growth, 15 fnalists transformed recyclables and valuable organic waste, but interventions for plastic waste into rewarding solutions after use and disposal. From recycling generally need to happen before the waste ends up in a used plastics, these fnalists produced designer textiles, accessories, dump truck, in a river or in the ocean. building materials and even school benches. The Recycler has now set up collection points throughout Among these innovations was mega-gas alternative energy the city and is researching large-scale bio-gas, waste-to-energy, produced in Kenya, using a thermal cracking process to convert insect-derived protein and informal collection networks.Jul - Sep 2022