Plan International Sierra Leone through its Young Children Fund (YCF) ended it first exhibition of “Our Recycling Hub” (ORH), aiming at promoting environmental awareness and instil good recycling practices.
The Exhibition which took place on Friday 16th June at Sierra Bay Hotel in Freetown took the form of Waste Management Conference and Recycling Exhibition with the theme “From Trash to Treasure: unlocking the value of waste”.
The Executive Director and Founder of Recycling Hub, Hajaratu Bangura the waste management conference and recycling exhibition is to encourage participants to learn about and practice sustainable waste management habits, specifically related to recycling and for them to also embrace the waste-wealth movement: explore, learn and contribute to a cleaner planet at their dynamic recycling exhibition.
Hajaratu narrated a picture of a young child who was curious and full of wonder, exploring the world around them.
“That child was me, and I vividly remember a particular incident that ignited my passion for recycling. Growing up in a humble neighbourhood, I would often accompany my grandmother on her daily walks. On one such occasion, we stumbled upon a clearing where people had discarded piles of waste—plastic bottles, paper, and other discarded items that lay forgotten and neglected,” she narrated.
She spoke of how her heart sank as she witnessed the impact of human negligence on their environment. But amidst the disappointment, she noticed something extraordinary—a group of children, just like her, scavenging through the waste, collecting discarded materials, and trading them for a few coins. Their resilience and resourcefulness amazed her.
“In that moment, I realized that waste held untapped potential—a potential to transform lives and safeguard our planet. This experience planted a seed in my young mind, and it grew with each passing year.”
Hajaratu went on to say the planet is facing unprecedented challenges due to the growing waste crisis and environmental degradation but it is up to them, as waste management and recycling professionals, to spearhead innovative solutions and create a lasting impact by prioritizing waste prevention and reduction.
“This begins with a shift in mind-sets, where we see waste not as a disposable commodity, but as a valuable resource that should be conserved and utilized judiciously. Now is the time for action. We must take the insights gained from this conference and translate them into tangible steps towards a circular economy, waste prevention, robust recycling systems, responsible organic waste management, and safe disposal of hazardous waste. Collaboration, education, and advocacy will be key in driving the necessary changes,” she stated.
CEO and Co-founder of the Kamara Yokie Innovation Centre, Hawa Yokie pointed out that the goal is to promote environmental management.
Sierra Leone like many other nations faces lots of environmental challenges.
She emphasized that the event is a call to action and for all to come together for the good of themselves and the environment.
She Leads Project Manager representative, Lovetter Koroma spoke about behavioural change project for all to create a space for girls and women to take up leadership in society.
Plan International, Timothy Sam said Plan is doing this with the hope that these participants in the coming years will build a multimillion dollars’ project.
He said young people are partners and leaders.
He promised on behalf of Plan to continue to invest in initiative like that.
In her keynote speech, with the topic proper water management and unlocking the value of waste, the Chief Executive Officer of Freetown Waste Transformers, Mrs. Aminata Dumbuya-Jarr said Waste Management is very near and dear to her heart.
She said Sierra Leone mostly views waste management as an event, something that happens on a Saturday morning, or once a month; it’s usually done in a knee-jerked way prompted by an eminent disaster like flooding and the like; or is an afterthought, performed only when the waste has piled up and visibly causing problems; and usually as a political low-hanging fruit as every successive government has the tendency to entice the citizenry by announcing a national cleaning day immediately upon assuming Office.
“All these have been the “norm” around waste mismanagement in our society.”
She cited the most recent World Bank study on the Waste Management Sector, every person in Freetown generates approximately 45kg of waste per day, therefore they are collectively generating nearly 540 tons per day (depending on the 2015 Census that put the city at 1.2 million inhabitants). Freetown City Council records only a small portion of this amount, 25% of this waste is getting collected by a certified waste collection service provider and being safely disposed of in one of the 2 dumpsites. This means a great deal of the waste we generate as Freetonian is either illegally dumped in our gutters or drainages, burned, buried, or just left lying around to breed mosquitos and caused malaria and other sanitation-related illnesses such as cholera, typhoid, and the like.
She pointed out that the waste management sector faces lots of challenges as the city is systemic and can be attributed to the lack of processes in the regulatory framework, lack of enforcement coupled with the lack of effective and efficient collection models, adequate scientific landfills, and most importantly the ill-formed attitudes of citizens toward waste management. Though some progress has been made and more efforts are underway to move the needle in building the ecosystem around the sector, there is a lot more they can all do as citizens to take responsibility for their waste to be collected in a proper manner.
She added that what they need to do as a society to realize the value of their waste is to think about waste differently and see its intrinsic value.
- A regulatory framework with the core function of regulating the sector.
- A strong enforcement mandate that capacitates the Sanitary Wardens and Metropolitan Police to monitor and provide assurances for the Sector.
- Awareness raising and Behavioral Change Campaigns at the community and at the household level.
- Empowering communities, households, and individuals to take full responsibility for waste generation and adequate means of disposal, reuse, recycling, and reduction.
- The creation of a Waste Management Fund to support small waste collector enterprises to have sustainable business models.
“In this light, I would like to conclude by saying, let’s give waste a chance, let’s put the systems in place that will unleash the potential of waste in our society, let’s radically adopt innovation, technology, a change in thought and perspective, let’s take collective action to rid of our waste and make it transformational in our lives and our society. Let’s not let our waste, waste away, because truly, what a waste it is to waste our waste when we can use it, reuse it, convert it, recycle it, clean it and make it the true diamond of Sierra Leone. Let’s turn our trash into treasure!” she said.
Closing the Loop: advancing sustainable waste management, showcasing recycled items: documentary and Panel discussion: promoting sustainable waste management and recycling: challenging innovation and best practices among others formed part of the conference.
