Women fight plastic waste

While female-led initiatives are boosting plastic recycling, government capacity to implement regulations holds the key to the waste crisis. Writes China Dialogue correspondent SALLY NYAKANYANGA

On a roadside in the Glen View suburb of Harare, Barbara Tiki is removing stickers from assorted plastic containers and bottles.

The spot in Zimbabwe’s capital has been the work station for Tiki and six other women, all clad in orange and blue work suits branded Zero Waste, since 2021.

Tiki, 57, recalls that when they started, the women would wake early in the morning to collect plastic waste from dumpsites across the city.

Nowadays, people bring the plastic waste for the women to buy and resell to recycling companies.

They were trained by Zimbabwe Sunshine Group to select and grade plastic waste.

“As Zero Waste, we have seen increasing number of people, including children, who bring various plastic containers for us to buy,” explains Jane Chichewo, 53. “So apart from helping people in our communities to earn an income, this has also helped the people to keep their surrounding clean by not throwing reusable waste anywhere.”

According to Zimbabwe’s Environmental Management Agency (EMA), solid waste management remains a pressing environmental challenges for the country. Plastic constitute approximately 18 percent of Zimbabwe’s annual waste tonnage, estimated at 1.65 million tonnes .

“Plastic can take thousands of years to decompose… and, relatively, little is recycled. Globally, 79 percent ends up in landfills or the natural environment,” explains EMA spokesperson Amkela Sidange.

In 2010, Zimbabwe banned plastic bags less than 30 microns thick, though some food packaging, such as for bread, was exempt.

Use of the banned bags carries a hefty fine of $5 000 or a one-year jail sentence. Joseline Wadzanai Chitotombe reports that the ban triggered a large decline in use of the flimsy bags.

Sidange calls on both retailers and consumers to adopt non-plastic shopping bags or other biodegradable alternatives.

 “It is everyone’s responsibility to protect the environment,” she says. ““Upholding our right to live in a clean, safe and healthy environment comes with responsibility.”

Plastic pollution is a  regional problem.

In 2015, Malawi banned thin plastics less than 60 microns thick, but  court injunctions by plastic manufacturers paralysed the government from fully implementing it.

Plastics constitute roughly 8.5 percent  of waste generated in Malawi, reports Lilongwe Wildlife Trust survey.

The report shows councils collect just about 42 percent of waste in the country while only about four percent of waste is recycled.

Meanwhile, more than 280 000 tonnes of solid waste goes uncollected in towns and cities each year.

“There is need for awareness at each stage and political will is also very important,” says Clement Tikiwa, chief environmental officer at the Environmental Affairs Department.

At the grassroots level, Malawi is seeing the emergence of projects similar to Barbara Tiki’s Zero Waste.

Samantha Ludick leads 15 villagers from Salima district along Lake Malawi established Cool Projects in 2004. They collect plastic waste from communities and run a swap shop. People from various villages swap plastic papers or bottles for cloths, educational supplies, sweets and other goodies. They also sell plastic for recycling and train young people with the skills to upcycle waste and start their own projects.

Recycling rates in sub-Saharan Africa standing at just four percent.

Due to most recycling systems being informal, there are no accurate estimates of how much waste is being recycled.

Global crisis

Plastic pollution affects every corner of the globe. Global plastics production and waste both doubled in the first two decades of this century and continue to grow, according to the OECD.

Globally, only 9 percent of plastic gets recycled, while 19 percent gets incinerated, half buried in landfills, and 22 percent disposed of via uncontrolled methods such as dumpsites and open pits.   

From 29 May to 2 June this year, delegates from 170 countries met in Paris to discuss establishing a UN treaty to end plastic pollution, which many hope will be the most important international environmental deal since the Paris climate agreement.

Back at the local level, Barbara Tiki and her colleagues are setting a precedent.

“The results of the impact of our work are there, but we continue to aim higher,” she says. “We are aspiring to buy our own land and grinding machinery in an endeavour to grow in this industry.”

Similarly, Ludick is looking to expand the Cool Projects initiative into smelting plastic waste into bricks for housing construction.

“This will help stop the use of sand for mortar, mud for bricks and timber for firing the bricks,” she says.—China Dialogues