Unpacking Plastic Recycling: The Facts, Fiction & Future
By Andrea Dixon & Merrisa Naidoo
As Global Recycling Day (established in 2018) took place on March 18th, GAIA/BFFP Africa took the opportunity to spotlight the realities of recycling and waste management across the continent. This March also marked, International Zero Waste Day, International Women’s Day, and International Waste Picker Month, themes of which were integrated into our action for Global Recycling Day.
With next round negotiations for the Global Plastic Treaty, set to take place in July 2025 at INC-5.2, it will be important to address the critical need for a comprehensive approach to waste management. The global plastics treaty is an unprecedented opportunity to harmonize and raise the bar for local, regional and national regulations on plastics. It can enable consistent mandatory policy measures which will ensure greater transparency on chemicals used in plastics, cross-border trade and impacts to the community as well as provide science-based and binding criteria for truly environmentally and socially-sound management of plastic waste,throughout collection, recycling, and disposal, while ruling out false claims and polluting practices.
Therefore, we critically examined recycling within the framework of “circularity/circular economy”, which the plastics industry often greenwashes as a silver-bullet solution to justify the continued exponential production of plastic. The activities this Global Recycling Day aimed to shift the narrative from a “Recycling only circular economy” to redefining genuine circularity as reduction, repair, reuse & real recycling in respect of the waste hierarchy, especially considering the concerning statistics on plastic recycling globally, particularly in Africa where a mere 4% of waste is estimated to be recycled.
This Global Recycling Day we held a deep-dive webinar with expert speakers on the topics of recycling, False Solutions, Waste Picker rights, Zero Waste & reuse that sought to
- Share information & statistics on plastic recycling Globally & in Africa,
- Debunk false solutions labelled as ‘recycling’ or under the guise of recycling
- Celebrate the important roles of African waste pickers and women in addressing the plastic pollution crisis,
- Discuss the challenges & opportunities of African waste pickers and women in a Just Transition towards Zero Waste Systems and
- Spotlight Zero Waste and Reuse & Refill as a Real Solutions to the plastic pollution crisis.
Find our webinar resources here:
– ENGLISH recording
– FRENCH recording
– Speaker presentation slides
– Audio graphics of speaker quotes on our Instagram & Facebook pages
– Journalist review article
What our experts had to say:
Katie Drews, Co-President & CEO (Eureka Recycling) and National Director (AMBR) presented on ‘Setting the Record Straight on Recycling’: “ Recycling cannot address the waste crisis or plastic crisis alone – It is done best when reduction & reuse are also utilised strongly.”
Ntombi Lefuthane, Waste Picker, Coordinating Committee Member (SAWPA) presented on ‘Recycling Through the Lens of Waste Pickers’: “Waste to Energy threatens and destroys the livelihoods of waste pickers and disrupts the waste management systems”
Weyinmi Okotie, Clean Air Manager (GAIA Africa) presented on ‘Beyond the Hype: Advanced Recycling’: “Do gba ya oka kpe – A Local Nigerian Proverb which means in trying to get quick fixes or short cuts, you end up taking a longer route and that is actually the problem with adopting false solutions. So we must cast aside the mirage of false solutions and adopt zero waste solutions that are actually best for our environment.”
Johnson Doe presented on ‘The Reality of a Plastic Credit Project in Ghana: Waste Picker Insights’: “Recycling without Waste Pickers is Garbage. We need to involve Waste Pickers, they are the frontline to recycling and promote the circular economy.”
Doun Moon presented on ‘The PRO’s & CON’s of EPR Schemes – Opportunities to Integrate Waste Pickers Meaningfully & Boost Real Recycling’: “As Johnson mentioned, recycling without Waste Pickers is garbage and that’s unfortunately what can go wrong with many EPR examples and having a good EPR eco-modulation system will help in achieving a good EPR system.”
Neil, Tangri, Science and Policy Director (GAIA Global) presented on ‘Plastic Credits: A Recycling Myth’: “There are no standards for what should count as a plastic credit, that leads to crediting of some very bad projects, like sending plastic waste to cement kilns. In general, there is a lack of safeguards to ensure that environmental and human rights standards are enforced.”
Asiphile Khanyil, UMI Waste Project Campaigner (groundWork) presented on ‘Wastepicker Organising at the Heart of Change & Zero Waste’: “What zero waste allows us to do, it allows us to be flexible, it’s also low cost, it’s also context specific- you can even replicate it so I think for us that is why we are doing this because it also needs people.”
Farima Tidjani, Industrial Engineer & Coordinator (adonsonia.green) and Africa Reuse Campaigner (GAIA Africa) presented on ‘The Reuse & Refill Landscape in Africa’: “A reuse system must be inclusive, it must be led by the community and it needs to also be supported by the government and businesses. It must be a product not just for one company but multiple actors, shareholders and stakeholders need to be involved.”
By promoting zero waste principles – conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of products, packaging, and materials without burning, and with no discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health- GAIA Africa sought to present a holistic alternative to the current extractive economy. This approach promotes a sustainable, cyclical system centered on waste prevention and non-toxic recycling. It emphasizes responsibility, community connectivity, and inclusivity while rejecting false solutions such as incineration, chemical recycling, plastic-to-fuel, and plastic credits.
ENDS.
