Materials

WasteAid announces new partnership under UK Aid Match programme

WasteAid announced its new partnership with Douala-based private sector enterprise RED-PLAST today (6 November), which aims to build on the charity’s existing work in Cameroon through its flagship UK Aid Match programme.

Plastic pollution in CameroonThe ongoing programme seeks to prevent plastics from entering the ocean, whilst training marginalised and vulnerable people in waste management and recycling skills.

Through the partnership, participants will be given the opportunity of long-term employment in the waste sector once the programme finishes.

Well-established in Cameroon’s waste management sector, RED-PLAST has been delivering waste-collection, recycling and manufacturing services throughout Douala for over five years, and is an approved government supplier for products with recycled content.

The supplier’s reputation in the region will provide support for programme participants seeking long-term employment in the formal waste management sector.

Commenting on the partnership, Rodrigue Ngonde, RED-PLAST General Manager, said: "RED-PLAST is happy to work alongside WasteAid to step up the fight against plastic waste pollution in Douala and the creation of green jobs, mainly for underprivileged populations.”

WasteAid’s UK Aid match funding scheme aims to reduce poverty whilst achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. In spring 2019, donations from the programme’s supporters were matched by the UK government, raising close to £200,000 to prevent plastics pollution in the Cameroon estuary and Atlantic Ocean.

Ceris Turner-Bailes, WasteAid CEO, said: “Sharing waste management expertise with vulnerable young people and women and those less physically able is a vital element of WasteAid’s work.

“By partnering with RED-PLAST, we are improving the economic outlook of participants by embedding them into an existing successful enterprise with the opportunity for long term employment. In this programme, our focus is to stop ocean plastics pollution through locally appropriate solutions and with our comprehensive approach this programme will contribute to the achievement of at least eight of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.”

Through a scalable model, UK Aid Match aims to reduce the flow of ocean bound plastics in Douala, offering plastic recycling opportunities whilst generating income and supporting the livelihoods of vulnerable groups within the region, including unemployed youth, vulnerable women and the less physically able.

Training will be jointly led by plastics recycling trainer Pierre Kamsouloum and community-based organisation YICAPED.

Participants will be trained in one of four key areas – waste collection and sorting, fabrication of products using waste plastics, commercial skills, and community sensitisation and communication campaigns.

Turner-Bailes continued: “Our model is cost-effective, scalable and impactful, and supports people who are most in need. We will be posting regular updates from Douala to share our experience and successes, so please sign up to the WasteAid newsletter for more good news stories.”

To read more about the UK Aid Match programme, you can visit WasteAid’s website.