Award ceremony for recycling champions marks the end of WasteAid’s successful UK Aid Match project in Cameroon

Written by Lucien Yoppa, WasteAid’s Project Coordinator in Cameroon.

On Friday 26th August 2022, the municipality of Douala 3 council in Cameroon held an award ceremony to congratulate trainees who took part in WasteAid’s UK Aid Match project. This ceremony marks the end of a two-year project that was funded by donations from individuals based in the UK and matched by the UK government. 

From January 2020 to August 2022, WasteAid worked in partnership with RED-PLAST (a local recycling enterprise) and the municipality of Douala 3 council to reduce the number of recyclable plastics dumped in the Wouri River and Douala estuary. This was achieved by introducing a more effective plastics collection and recycling system, which in turn has improved local livelihoods.  

Although the project was significantly impacted by the global Covid-19 pandemic, a number of outstanding outcomes were achieved nonetheless:

• 165 people trained in collection safety, sorting and recycling of plastic waste from the streets, markets and riverbanks of the municipality of Douala 3 council. 
• 35 new jobs created in the plastic waste recycling sector where 15 worked at the RED-PLAST facility and others either as independent waste pickers or workers at other local recycling centres. 
• 47.87 tonnes of plastic waste collected for recycling. 
• 2,537 square metres of paving slabs made with plastic waste were produced and sold. 
• 17 businesses participated in the recycling scheme. 
• A plastic recycling line has been bought and will be fully operational at RED-PLAST’s facility. 
• Over 2,000 people from 4 markets sensitised about plastic waste issues and how they can contribute by disposing of their plastic waste into eco-bins made from plastic bottles. 

 

The new plastic recycling line will triple the production capacity of RED-PLAST and also enable them to produce more paving slabs and new products like granule and other plastic melting products (good marketable products). It will also help to ensure long lasting employment for the 15 workers at RED-PLAST and more. 

Though this project is coming to an end, its legacy lives on; the mayor of the local municipality has kindly donated a site where WasteAid will oversee the building of a Plastic Recovery Facility (PRF). Local waste trainees will be invited to collect PET bottles which will be cleaned, baled and sold to the local and international PET market where the bottles can be recycled or turned into marketable products. 

Thank you to everyone for supporting WasteAid’s 2019 UK Aid Match appeal to end plastic pollution. Your donations have made a huge impact and enabled this significant work to happen.