Browsing: Plastic waste

Global Plastics Treaty

International delegates have gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, hoping to make further progress towards a landmark treaty to address global plastic pollution. The meeting is happening at the UNEP headquarters as negotiators seek to solve the scourge of pollution resulting from more than 430 million metric tonnes of plastic waste produced annually.
More than 2,000 delegates have attended the global plastics summit. They include representatives from environmental organisations, the oil and gas industry, and civil society groups. The delegates in Nairobi will mull two options: a wide-ranging strategy targeting plastics production or a limited approach focussed on waste management.…

afri plastic
  • Nine Kenyan startups are competing for a share of more than $4.4 million in funding as part of a Sub-Saharan-African plastics innovation challenge.
  • Kenyan and Nigerian startups dominated the cohort of finalists, with nine startups each, out of the total 40 finalists startups that made it to the final phase of the Prize.
  • Launched in July 2021, the Afri-Plastics Challenge received 1,141 entries from innovators across sub-Saharan Africa.  

Nine Kenyan startups are competing for a share of more than $4.4 million in funding as part of a Sub-Saharan-African plastics innovation challenge.

Run by innovation prize experts Challenge Works and funded by the Government of Canada, the
Afri-Plastics Challenge is tackling plastic waste and reducing pollution making its way into the marine
environment.

Kenyan and Nigerian startups dominated the cohort of finalists, with nine startups each, out of the total 40 finalists startups that made it to the final phase of …

Intelligent packaging: Africa adopting blockchain and AI technology to end the plastic waste menace. www.theexchange.africa

According to the Future Market Insights report, around 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic have been manufactured globally, out of which only 9 per cent is recycled!

The technology helps to protect manufacturers and consumers against food and drug counterfeits. 

 With the plastic waste menace causing unprecedented damage globally, there has been an ongoing movement to discover and use alternative packaging materials, such as paper, glass, and metals.

The dilemma facing the world right now is that even the processes of creating plastic-free solutions often release more significant carbon emissions than conventional plastics.…

Plastic Waste Exports

A new report has found that toxic chemicals in plastic waste exports from wealthy countries are contaminating food in developing and transition countries around the world, including Africa.

The study by the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) found that most of the plastic waste exported from wealthy countries to countries with developing economies or economies in transition is landfilled, burned, or dumped into waterways.

According to the report, all plastics virtually contain hazardous chemical additives.

The report states that these disposal methods result in highly toxic emissions that remain in the environment for decades and build up in the food chain.

Dubbed ‘Plastic Waste Poisoning Food and Threatening Communities in Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Latin America’, the study demonstrates how these plastic waste handling methods end up poisoning local populations.

For this study, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in fourteen countries which in many cases receive plastic waste from …