July Editions

FAIR PLASTIC ALLIANCE:

Rome, 3/5/2019 – In the world, only 15% of the plastic produced is recycled. Every year, millions of tons of this material end up in the ocean, with disastrous consequences. Furthermore, countless informal workers in emerging countries operate in the recycling production chain under terrible conditions.

The Fair Plastic Alliance is born to tackle environmental and social challenge connected to the poor handling of the plastic recycling chain. Members of this alliance are Serioplast, leading international company in the sector of plastic packaging production for the major players on the global consumer market; Oxfam and CESVI, non-profit organizations that have been working for years on projects aimed at empowering capacity building among local communities and at bringing about economic and community development; WeCyclers, a Nigerian startup capable of implementing an innovative and scalable model to collect waste, which respects workers’ rights; and various cooperatives that unite informal collectors to offer more opportunities and a dignified lifestyle. The FPA brings together for-profit and non-profit international stakeholders, with a common goal: to develop a fair and inclusive production chain for plastic recycling, which offers men and women who operate in the informal waste collection sector the opportunity of having a fully recognized job and a dignified lifestyle.

“The Fair Plastic alliance wants to face the environmental and social issues generated by plastic through an innovative approach, leveraging on the active inclusion of informal pickers. This is possible when adopting a business model that brings workers back to the center. A model where investors give up on dividends and reinvests profits in the inclusion and development of local communities, thus guaranteeing economic, social, and environmental sustainability and giving an impulse for a bottom-up transformation, sustained and supported by the industrial production chain – says Delia Innocenti, Serioplast CEO.

“I have created WeCycliers firmly believing that lifting thousands of informal waste pickers out of poverty in my city, Lagos, would be a great thing for the air that we breathe, for health, and for labor dignity. – states Bilikiss Adebiyi Abiola, co-founder of WeCyclers. – Lagos, with its 25 million residents, suffers from chronic pollution from waste discarded anywhere on the streets, without any rules. Thanks to what we started, plastic here has become a resource that allows people to send their children to school, have a stable income, afford medical care”.

And it is precisely to the cooperative nature of the alliance that Benetta Gualandi, Programme Manager for Oxfam South Africa speaks, “We are experimenting with an innovative model to stimulate development based on the participation of basic communities, civil society, private sector and national and local government; a strong partnership, where each stakeholder acknowledges their role and puts their expertise and resources at everyone’s disposal”.

“I am very proud to bring Cesvi on board this initiative” says Daniele Barbone, CEO of the Italian NGO. “President Gloria Zavatta and I have dedicated our careers to environmental sustainability. The Fair Plastic Alliance endorses Cesvi’s vocation towards environmental safety and proves that projects involving local populations have a cultural function as well. This is the direction we have taken with our partner Blue Sky Recycling, together with Serioplast, to create a Social Business for plastic waste collection and recycling in South Africa”.

The Fair Plastic alliance is open to all those who recognize themselves in its values and who want to adopt a business development model based on a fair and circular economy: companies, ONGs, cooperatives, associations and representatives of stakeholders in the plastic sector. The goal is to stimulate a debate that must involve multinational companies that use plastic for packaging, policy makers, local communities and consumers.

Read more:

www.fairplasticalliance.org

Oxfam Italy Press Office

Mariateresa Alvino – 348.9803541 – mariateresa.alvino@oxfam.it

David Mattesini – 349.4417723 – david.mattesini@oxfam.it

CESVI Press Office

Andrea Sicco: +39 347.2746274 – andreasicco@cesvi.org

Valentina Prati: +39 3280197962 – valentinaprati@cesvi.org

Serioplast Press Office

Tania Prestini +39 3381537683 – tania.prestini@serioplast.com

Nations around the world are engaging in conversations around Green economy and the roles stakeholders play in these. Wecyclers recently took part in the MAKERSPACE initiative Forum in Qatar.

MAKERSPACE initiative is an interactive space where the public can learn about green economy, business, and entrepreneurship in Qatar through exhibitions, workshops and talks. The two-day event is based on the concept of creative learning, where the attendees can learn about and become involved in sustainable practices. Because of its interactive and educational nature, MAKERSPACE initiative is open to children, entrepreneurs, and generally interested public alike.

Head, HSE and Customer Engagement of Wecyclers, Mrs. Yemisi Lawal representedWecyclers at the forum speaking on the Young Green Leaders Panel at the Makerspace Initiative, sharing insights into Recycling, investment in recycling and the Wecyclers Model.

Overall, the Makerspace project aims to:

Showcase how urban green entrepreneurship and business function as part of ongoing economic diversification in Qatar.

Create awareness for different stakeholders to become part of a dynamic urban green entrepreneurship ecosystem.

On July 8, 2017, Wecyclers conducted a community outreach program in the Oyingbo / Ebute Metta areas of Lagos to create awareness about the importance of recycling and register more households for our free household recycling program. Kansi Udochukwu of member of the Wecyclers Volunteer Initiative shares her experience of the program in this piece.

“I volunteered for the Wecyclers community outreach in Ebute Metta, and it was a truly eye-opening experience. I came across this event on the Instagram page of Ukeme Esiet, an employee of Wecyclers that is passionate about his work and is extremely active in his community. Being passionate about a clean environment that protects people from disasters and diseases myself, I decided to volunteer for this company that recycles different types of plastic and aluminum cans by reaching out to the lower class.”

“Openly talking to the merchants and hawkers on the streets of eastern Ebute Metta was a strange and exciting experience. The men that followed us to our destination in a purple car blasted pop music and kept the environment upbeat. Fellow volunteers made jokes and laughed as we talked to various people on the streets.”

“We told them that a company called Wecyclers will be ready to give them redeemable gifts just as long as they bring their recyclable waste. Most people got excited about the idea that they could receive gifts in exchange for items that cost them nothing. Even idle children became ecstatic and began to pick up whatever plastic they saw on the roads!”

“I learnt a great deal from the hours that I spent there: most people, no matter their background, are willing to protect and take care of their environment as long as it easy and convenient. Despite the heavy rain and floods, it was an amazing experience, one that I would definitely do again.”

Beyond participating in the community outreach program, Kansi also demonstrates her passion for the environment in other ways:

“I started a petition, about three weeks before the outreach and the massive inundation of water in Lagos, that insisted the Lagos State government provide dustbins in public areas to not only reduce waste pollution on the streets of Lagos but to abate floods that can be avoided by the removal of waste that clogs gutters and drainage systems.”

“I was going back to Ikoyi from my mom’s orphanage in Ajah when I saw a large amount of waste on every main road in the local government. I was so appalled that I decided to go around Lagos Island to take pictures of the appalling waste pollution that I plan to release to the public in due time. Looking at the pictures made me think of how long Lagos State has had this problem and how the problem will continue to insinuate if we do not take action. So, I made a petition that simply requests for the provision of public dustbins in Lagos State.”

“Though the increase of signatures has stagnated in the past two weeks, about 110 people from all over the world have signed the petition so far. I plan to spread it to more people to reach my 5000 signature goal. By making this petition, since the petition allows signatories to make comments, I inadvertently created a platform where people could express their annoyances and concerns over the effects of waste pollution. This encourages me to keep moving forward and to work together with people to eradicate waste pollution in Lagos State.”

You can find Kansi’s petition at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/419/584/904/.

Hundreds of volunteers and scores of residents came out in Kosofe Local Government Area to drive awareness through the #LagosIsRecycling campaign promoting recycling. #LagosIsRecycling campaign, an offshoot of Wecyclers drive and campaign into new comunities, is a response to the growing concerns of increase in waste and a further decrease in awareness creation about the benefits of a clean environment and on recycling. #LagosIsRecycling campaign works to enlighten Lagosians on the importance of a clean environment and the benefits of recycling

The Kosofe awareness drive is the first in the series of forthcoming campaigns to new communities hosting Wecyclers operation and as well the first engagement for the newly constituted Wecyclers volunteer initiative. The awreness exercise had the full support of the Lagos state government and global market leader in the logistics industry, DHL and insurance giants.

 “Waste burden seems like an increasing problem globally, while we can decide to complain about this we felt there is also a part to play by creating awareness and driving awareness and as well reaching new communities thus promoting recycling agenda which the Lagos state Government under the watch of Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode wholeheartedly supports, this time we took this awareness to a Kosofe community we have just started operations in.” Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola said.

On Wecyclers role in promoting recycling Mrs Adebiyi-Abiola said; “We face a sobering waste crisis that will only worsen as population continues to soar. The government and its mercenaries have become overburdened and can only collect just a certain percentage of the daily waste produced.
People living in slum conditions without formal waste collection are subject to increased flooding, disease spread, and psychological stress that results from unmanaged trash heaps. Concurrently, recycling firms in Lagos face a supply constraint—they cannot access adequate supply of quality materials required for processing. One of the large recycling firms in the country is operating its factory at 50 to 60% below capacity. We recognized this and introduced our model which to a considerable extent solves the urban waste challenge for households and recyclers.

We motivate families to recycle plastic bottles, plastic sachets, and aluminum cans through our SMS-based incentive program. For every kilogram of material that families recycle with us, they receive redeemable Wecyclers’ points over their cell phones in return. Families can then redeem their points for goods that they value, such as cell phone minutes, basic food items, and household goods. Families receive collection reminders and rewards updates directly on their mobile phones making the benefits of recycling immediate.

The #LagosIsRecycling is one of the avenues we have created to promote recycling and as well drive the need to clean up our environment.”

This campaign is actively driven by our team of volunteers and to join the network of volunteers please visit www.volunteer.wecyclers.com

For more information about what Wecyclers is doing or to arrange to interview, please email founders@wecyclers.com