Prevented Ocean Plastic™ East Africa has announced the opening of a new plastic collection centre in Dar es Salaam, the largest city in the United Republic of Tanzania. The new centre is the first Prevented Ocean Plastic™ centre in the region and is the first of its scale in Tanzania, which currently lacks adequate waste management to deal with its growing quantities of plastic waste. The centre has been built with the support of Alliance to End Plastic Waste.
It is estimated that 29 kilotonnes of plastic waste enter the ocean from Tanzania each year[1]. The new centre is expected to process 300 tonnes of plastic waste per month (more than 3 kilotonnes per year), making a substantial dent[2] in the quantities of plastic reaching the ocean, where it damages marine ecosystems and wildlife. Critically, it will also help to level up engagement with the informal waste sector in the region by creating reliable income opportunities with dignified working conditions for local collectors. It will also provide 40 direct jobs for local people, at least 50% of which will be for women.
In Dar es Salaam, informal waste workers play an important but historically undervalued role in recycling. The centre will facilitate this grassroots collection with elevated practices for recycling of discarded plastic through efficient waste management infrastructure run via responsible sourcing principles. This in turn will divert plastic from being burnt by households, buried or dumped into the open environment into drainage canals, sewers or on the seashore, which data suggests is where 40% of the waste in Dar es Salaam currently ends up[3].
Raffi Schieir, Director of Prevented Ocean Plastic™, said:
“Prevented Ocean Plastic™ entering East Africa is a huge moment of pride. This is the result of a collaborative effort that began two years ago, to bring the best minds in recycling from five separate continents together to elevate and align for better collection and recycling in Tanzania. A big thank you to Alliance to End Plastic Waste which is now the fifth institutional funding partner to assess and approve finance for Prevented Ocean Plastic’s globally scalable and repeatable impact franchise model.”
Due to factors such as rapid urbanisation, population growth and poor water, sanitation and drainage management infrastructure, the city of Dar es Salaam is particularly vulnerable to plastic leakage into the ocean and health impacts of mismanaged waste. Prevented Ocean Plastic™ is funding forthcoming research to gather more data on the region.
Prevented Ocean Plastic’s work in East Africa is also built on best practices from the other regions where the programme operates.
Ubeyd Yesil, Site Manager of the Dar Es Salaam collection centre, said:
“The new plastic collection centre will have a big impact for Dar es Salaam, helping to clean up plastic from our city and providing work and income opportunities for local people. We hope to see a cleaner future, where plastic has a second life and doesn’t end up in the ocean or open environment.”
This is the tenth centre opened by Prevented Ocean Plastic™ since the launch of its mission to open 25 collection centres on coastlines at-risk of plastic pollution worldwide by the end of 2025. Each centre is underpinned by the Prevented Ocean Plastic™ Standards, the most comprehensive set of standards in the industry which elevate responsible sourcing and promote safe and dignified working conditions. The standards were developed in accordance with the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) base code and are informed by the Code of Good Practice developed by ISEAL, as well as Bantam Materials UK Ltd.’s Good Manufacturing Practices and best-in-class supply chain processes.
