By Fatou Saho
A small but mighty plastic recycling movement called Precious Plastic Gambia is one of the few recycling companies that have joined the country’s battle against plastic pollution. The company envisages a plastic free Gambia in the near future.
It resides in the heart of Gunjur, one of the coastal villages in The Gambia that is affected by man-made environmental crises of which; plastic pollution is not an exception.
Despite community and youth efforts to fight the menace through engaging in beach clean ups to protect marine lives and prevent further health and environmental consequences, the problem still persists.
This challenge is attributed to the country’s lack of proper waste management tools and infrastructure.
But Precious Plastic Gambia, established by four Young Gambian environmentalists and business oriented entrepreneurs with the aim of making profit while fighting plastic pollution, is gradually driving change with the limited resources it has to recycle and manage plastics.
The team believes that the plastics that many throw and refer to as waste, is nothing close to being a trash but rather, a resource that is only misused and mismanaged.
The Gambia has quite a number of good laws that has the potential to address its plastic crises such as: the plastic ban order 2015, the Anti littering regulation 2008 and the waste management bill 2007, but enforcement of these laws still remains a challenge as people still uses and throw plastics anywhere and anyhow.
One of the founders’ who served as the company’s Operations Manager, Mr Babucarr Camara, said since they began, they have recycled 3 tons (3,000 kilograms) of plastic with an ambition to recycle at least 30 to 40tons (30,000 to 40,000 kilograms) of plastic in a year.
“We officially started operations in August 2024 in a smaller scale but then, we wanted to start this and keep it moving,” Mr Camara said.
He explained that when it had started newly, they entered into a memorandum of understanding with the National Environment Agency (NEA), which had enabled them to secure some funding through the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources for the few recycling machineries that they currently use to transform plastics into valuable items that can last long with no negative impact on the environment.
Camara said they rely on local waste collectors who go to communities to collect plastics and sell them.
He explained that while some waste collectors are doing it as a business, they have other individuals who will pick up the kind of plastics they work with when passing the streets and bring it to them for free.
“We also received some singled-used plastic bags that the NEA seized out of the ban made on plastic. They donated it to us because we have a collaboration with them,” Mr Camara noted.
According to sources, many households in The Gambia either burn their used plastics or leave it to decay in the soil. In some instances, women also use it to light fire when cooking meals, which has potential health risks.
“If you know the dangers associated with plastics if not handled properly, you will not play with it. But if you know the values you can drive from it, you will not also play with it. There are lot of things that plastics can be transformed into,” Camara explained.
He noted that it feels good and satisfying when people take good care of the plastic generated.
The company made furniture, jewelleries, coasters and Key holders which they sell to earn a leaving and at the same protecting the environment.
From their slogan: Trash to treasure, they are turning plastics into cherishable items.
“People are surprised when they see what we make, some even ask where we got blue woods in the furniture but we tell them these are not woods they are plastics. It feels good to transform something that people throw and then get a smooth and nice result. We all feel the joy when we make something beautiful and impactful,” Mr Camara revealed.
A beach bed made out of re-cycled plastics by Precious Plastic Gambia
The team constitutes six staff, four of which are young women indicating women empowerment.
Ramatoulie Manneh
Ramatoulie Manneh, holding one of their recycling tools, told The Standard that aside from the little she earns from recycling plastics, it also taught her a lot about the significance of plastics if managed properly.
“At my house, we used to burn plastics but now we don’t thanks to our company,” Ramatoulie stated.
Challenges
The Gambia lacks structured mechanisms for efficient waste management, such as segregated waste collection and proper disposal techniques. This results in ineffective waste disposal practices that negatively impact environmental sustainability and pose health risks to communities.
The country also faced limited formal waste collection services: Waste management is fragmented, with limited formal collection coverage. Much waste ends up in informal dumpsites or burnt in backyards, causing pollution and health hazards.
Open dumping and burning of trash also contribute to pollution, including the polluting of the River Gambia and its fragile mangrove forests.
Generally, there is a lack of infrastructure for recycling, composting, and waste-to-energy facilities. This limits options to divert waste from landfills or reduce environmental impact through sustainable waste processing.
One of the most challenging issues recognised by waste managers is that, only few institutions put different kinds of waste in separate bins.
This is making the work of recycling companies like Precious plastic Gambia even more difficult.
“Here plastics are mixed with food waste and that becomes difficult to deal with because they get contaminated,” Babucarr noted.
He said when they buy disposed plastics, “we wash them and that requires water and we don’t have a water facility”.
“So we go to our neighbours to fetch water and clean the plastics.”
The Gambia’s plastic free campaign
In October 2024, the government and Common Seas hosted a press conference where it was revealed that the West African country generates 23,000 tonnes of plastic waste in 2021 with over 17,000 tonnes leaking into the environment as both macro and micro plastics. Experts predicted that data is expected to rise by 42% by 2033 if action is not taken. This was followed with the launch of a massive landmark plan to reduce plastic pollution by 86% from here against 2033.
With those commitments, environmentalists remain hopeful that with some degree of seriousness, The Gambia will attain its goal on plastic pollution.
While the government continue to formulate policies and programmes, Precious Plastic Gambia is contributing its quarter to this goal by recycling and through knowledge sharing with school children and young people to influence their attitudes toward plastic management and ignite the change that environmentalists are advocating for.
