Junked plastics make profits in Senegal

USAID helps industries and individuals recycle

Pape Amadou Sow (center) discusses discarded quality plastic sources with collectors Cheikh Jone (left) and Mbacké Dieng at his recycling plant in central Dakar. Photo by R. Nyberg, USAID

Pape Amadou Sow is one of Senegal’s leading experts in plastic. He is the man responsible for introducing the small black plastic shopping bag for fruits and vegetables into the local market. Unfortunately, countless bags have found their way onto streets and across fields, dotting and polluting the landscape. Now he wants to catch all those recklessly discarded bags blowing aimlessly into thorny bushes and recycle them – and just about every other kind of plastic waste he can get his hands on. With USAID support, he’s well on his way.

Sow is serious about plastic. Having worked with it his entire life, he knows its potential and its value, both new, and increasingly, recycled.

USAID, through its implementing partner, EnterpriseWorks/VITA (EWV), saw an opportunity to capitalize on plastic. EWV began working with Sow’s company, Recyplast, in late 2004 after carrying out detailed market research identifying constraints and technical needs. In the past, the recycling market was limited almost exclusively to grinding up old plastic sandals, arguably the most common footwear in Africa. The shoes are manufactured in Senegal, so plastic is always in demand. But USAID-funded research quickly showed vast potential for recycling industrial plastic waste and quality plastic waste from landfills. To date, more than 70 tons of plastic have been recycled with USAID funding and EWV technical support.

“I have had the chance to be a pioneer in plastic recycling in Senegal, and I plan to do it correctly,” he said.

Armed with USAID’s research and in-depth technical advice, Sow was up and running in a matter of weeks, working with collectors at a central landfill to bring in discarded bottles, crates, bags, bowls, and tubs to be cleaned, ground up, and resold as flakes or powder. He and his eight employees rent large trucks to collect several tons of plastic at a time to bring to his plant. And the plastic keeps coming, thanks to groups of more than 100 collectors who supplement their part-time jobs by hunting for quality used plastic. They, too, are beneficiaries of an increased demand for recycled plastic.

Mbacké Dieng, 45, works seven days a week to oversee the work of 50 collectors at the Mbeubeuss site. Married to two women, he plans to put his five children through school so they pursue the career of their choice – plastic or otherwise. Profits from plastics have already enabled him to build a house in his hometown of Touba. “I’m working hard and I am feeding my family with income from used plastic. Sometimes I have big orders, up to 20 tons a month from various clients. I hope to see this continue if not increase in the future,” he said.

Another collector, Cheikh Jone, 39, continues to work as a gardener as he supervises 28 collectors. He aspires one day to have his own recycling plant that will employ scores of Senegalese. “It’s my dream to invest even more in plastic,” he said.

Sow recognizes the role the collectors play in his operation, and he hopes to expand his work with them. “I’d like to buy a truck to collect the plastic at the sites,” he said. But he’s calculating carefully, making connections and continuously analyzing the market along with EWV technical experts so he does not spend too much too fast.

In recent months, Sow and a second company supported with USAID funding, Haute Technologie de l’Industrie du Recyclage, have ground up a much higher volume of plastic from industries looking for cost-effective ways to recycle their waste. These include large manufacturers of produce sacks and plastic mats. Leftover plastic from rice sacks, for example, are piled 10 feet high like snowbanks in Sow’s plant. The work is steady, profitable, and highly desired because it comes in clean – it does not need additional sorting or washing. With more machinery, he could double his output and service more clients at the same time.

What’s good for Senegal is good for the world. With soaring oil prices, people are looking for cheaper ways to recycle plastics. As collecting, sorting, cleaning and recycling plastics is labor intensive, a firm in Italy recognized the value of importing recycled plastic from Senegal, where wages are lower. Sow and some business associates already exported 23 tons – an entire container – of plastic to Italy, and there is keen interest in exporting more.

Sow acknowledges the support and technical advice he has received from this activity.

“This is exactly the kind of assistance that is needed in developing countries,” Sow said of USAID’s role in funding the project. “We had an idea that we thought could work and bring in revenue. The nongovernmental organization gave us the market overview and technical guidelines to carry out this activity and remained at our side to help us along.”