- Nine projects from across sub-Saharan Africa have been named winners of the Afri-Plastics Challenge by the Government of Canada and Challenge Works.
- Among the winners are large-scale projects providing new sources of income for local families who collect recyclables and innovators converting plastic waste into affordable cooking gas.
- Biodegradable bioplastics made from invasive grasses growing in Lake Victoria, household products made from coconut fibers and on-demand diaper service – making cloth diapers an easy option for new parents – also share the price.
- Projects that encourage fashion designers to make sustainable choices, virtual reality storytelling to influence behavior change, and a mobile app that awards cash rewards for recycling have also been successful.
LONDON, UK and NAIROBI, Kenya, March 16, 2023, /African Media Agency/ — Challenge Works and the Government of Canada today announced the winners of the Afri-Plastics Challenge. £4.1 million (CAD $6.7 million) has been awarded to innovators delivering scalable innovations that tackle plastic waste in Africa and reduce the amount of pollution that reaches the ocean.
£1million has been awarded to the company togolaise Green Industry Plast (GIP-TOGO), a recycling company that helps households earn a living through the collection of plastic waste. GIP-TOGO sorts, shreds, cleans and bags the shredded plastic for reuse, especially in ecological paving slabs.
The Kenyan company Chemolex won £750,000 to scale up production of Biopactic, a biodegradable alternative to plastic made from invasive water hyacinths that grow aggressively in Lake Victoria. This next-generation material can completely replace single-use plastic in food and product packaging. It not only reduces plastic pollution, but also combats an invasive plant that is impacting Kenya’s marine ecosystem.
£500,000 was won by MegaGas in Kenya, which turns plastic waste into affordable cooking gas for people living on less than a dollar a day. The company uses a thermal cracking process that produces no emissions, residues or pollution to turn plastic pollution, such as polythene, into fuel for rural families.
Tris Dyson, Managing Director of Challenge Works, said “11 million tonnes of plastic waste enter the oceans every year. It is a disaster for the environment and for the communities that depend on healthy seas. The winners of the Afri-Plastics Challenge put African innovation at the heart of solving this global problem”.
“We are awarding over £4 million to companies that have already doubled their recycling rate through the Afri-Plastics Challenge while providing new sources of income for families, pioneering companies transforming invasive plants from the Lake Victoria into biodegradable materials and companies that create affordable cooking gas from waste.
Christopher Thornley, Canadian High Commissioner in Nairobi, said: “Plastic pollution is a problem that affects everyone. The plastics that end up in the marine ecosystem are just as harmful whether they come from Mombasa or Montreal, from Lagos or London. The winners of the Afri-Plastics Challenge show that there is a way forward to establish a successful circular economy for plastic waste, with innovations capable of changing the way we use and dispose of plastic, not only in Africa, but all over the world.”
Launched in July 2021, the Afri-Plastics Challenge received 1,141 applications from innovators across sub-Saharan Africa. The 40 most promising teams have received an additional £4.8 million in seed funding, grants and support to develop solutions to increase plastic recycling rates, reduce plastic waste volumes and influence behavioral changes ahead of today’s announcement.
Innovations successfully developed through the Afri-Plastics Challenge have paved the way for a revolution in Africa’s approach to reducing reliance on plastics. They also support the empowerment of women and girls by creating economic opportunities for women. 60% of the projects selected from the 40 finalists were led by women.
The other winners of the Afri-Plastic Challenge are:
- Chanja Datti (Nigeria) – awarded £750,000 – based in Abuja, it transforms collected recyclable waste into commercially viable products. He collects, sorts and bales the plastic before reselling it to manufacturers.
- EcoCoCo Homecare (Kenya) – awarded £250,000 – he has developed alternatives to plastic household products that use the fibers of coconut husks left over from coconut oil production, including scouring pads, scrub brushes and brooms.
- Toto Safi (Rwanda) – awarded £100,000 – an on-demand nappies service that makes durable cloth nappies a realistic alternative to plastic-based single-use nappies. Through its app, parents can order clean and sterilized diapers at an affordable cost, while used diapers are taken away for cleaning.
- Catharina Natang (Cameroon) – awarded £250,000 – trains fashion designers in Africa to make sustainable choices in the textiles they use and to understand plant-based alternatives to polymer-based materials.
- Doing VR (Kenya) – awarded with £250,000 – uses virtual reality to explain the journey of a piece of plastic after it is landfilled, including the damage it causes to local environments, to persuade people to make different choices by matter of plastic consumption and disposal.
- Baus Taka Enterprise (Kenya) – awarded £250,000 – developed a mobile app to encourage people to sort their plastic waste – through competitions it offers cash rewards and points which can be redeemed for medical services in partnership with health clinics.
The Afri-Plastics Challenge is designed and implemented by UK innovation award experts Challenge Works and funded by the Government of Canada. It is part of the $100 million Marine Litter Mitigation Fund announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the G7 Leaders Summit in Charlevoix in June 2018.
Innovators focused on recycling solutions reported a 113% increase in monthly collection and processing during the award. In the long term, developing and scaling the innovators’ solutions will lead to the creation of new sustainable local businesses, creating alternatives to single-use plastics and improving waste collection and treatment.
To learn more about the winners, visit afri-plastics.challenges.org
Distributed by African Media Agencypour Afri-Plastics Challenge.
A propos de l’Afri-Plastics Challenge
The Afri-Plastics Challenge, run by innovation award experts Challenge Works, offers solutions to the scourge of plastic pollution in sub-Saharan Africa with funding from the Government of Canada. The challenge has three components to tackle the problem on multiple fronts.
Part 1 – Accelerating Growth – rewards innovative solutions for managing plastic waste after use and disposal (i.e. downstream solutions). Total prize money of £2.25 million.
Part 2 – Creating Solutions – rewards innovative solutions to reduce the volume of plastic in packaging and other products before they are used (i.e. upstream solutions). Total price of £1.1 million.
Part 3 – Promoting Change – rewards creative campaigns and projects aimed at influencing behavioral change in individuals and communities to promote sustainable consumption around plastic. Total prize money: £750,000.
A propos de Challenge Works
For a decade, Challenge Works has established itself as a global leader in designing and delivering high-impact awards that encourage cutting-edge innovation for social good. We are a social enterprise founded by UK innovation agency Nesta. Over the past ten years, we’ve hosted over 80 awards, distributed £84 million in funding and worked with 12,000 innovators.
The Challenge Awards encourage open innovation through competition. We specify a problem to be solved, but not the solution to be provided. We offer significant cash bonuses to encourage diverse innovators to apply their ingenuity to solving the problem. The most promising solutions are rewarded with seed funding and capacity building support for experts, so they can prove their impact and effectiveness.
The first or best innovation to solve the problem wins. This approach puts unknown and unproven innovators on an equal footing, so that the best ideas, no matter where they come from, are used to tackle the world‘s toughest challenges.
-Visit us at challengeworks.org
About the Government of Canada
As part of the commitment to reduce marine plastics globally, the Government of Canada has launched a project to improve plastics management in sub-Saharan Africa; The Afri-Plastics Challenge, aims to reduce marine plastics in sub-Saharan African countries by developing and scaling innovative solutions to plastics mismanagement. The Afri-Plastics Challenge has a particular focus on promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls. Without being limited by gender, the challenge encourages women and girls to participate by submitting their solutions.
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Learn more about the international partnership and Canada’s initiatives to reduce plastic pollution.
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Source : African Media Agency (AMA)