The governments of five African countries have launched a USD 90 million project that aims to reduce the releases of hazardous chemicals from plastics, including persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The project will use a sector-based approach that covers the automotive, electronics, and construction industries.
The ‘Circular and POPs-free Plastics in Africa’ project is led by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), with funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and support from the Basel Convention Coordinating Centre for Training and Technology Transfer for the African Region. It will support Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe in: adopting and enforcing upstream policies and financial instruments; working with plastic product designers, manufacturers, and assemblers to implement circular economy practices and eliminate or replace problematic products with more sustainable alternatives; assisting recyclers and collectors to separate hazardous plastics fractions; and raising awareness.
A UNEP press release notes that hazardous chemicals “are used in an array of different plastic products to enhance their properties. “POPs remain intact for decades, accumulate in the environment, and are released throughout the lifecycle of these plastics, harming human health, the environment, and the economy,” it highlights. POPs’ presence in plastics also has impacts for circularity as “contaminated materials cannot be safely reused, recycled, or reintroduced in the value chain.”
Under the project, trainings will target companies in the automotive, electronics, and construction sectors as well as regulators, to build knowledge on avoiding hazardous plastic additives and support fundraising activities for POPs-containing plastics disposal. The project also aims help the five countries “establish sustainable funding sources for the environmentally sound management of hazardous plastic wastes,” according to the press release.
Each project country will focus on one sector they selected based on national context and priorities. “By applying solutions in a total of three sectors, successful practices can be scaled in and outside the selected sectors,” said Director of the Basel Convention Coordinating Centre for Training and Technology Transfer for the African Region Percy Onianwa.
The project is part of the UNEP Plastics Initiative, which consolidates all UNEP’s plastic-related projects to scale action at the global, regional, and national levels towards a circular economy of plastics.
The five-year project will also address data gaps in each of the sectors the countries selected through “comprehensive studies on the industry, its plastic-containing products, and its plastic waste.” It will also identify alternatives for POPs-containing plastics as well as suitable technologies to manage POPs-contaminated waste in an environmentally sound manner. [Circular and POPs-free Plastics in Africa] [UNEP Press Release]