Plastic Predicament
Plastic bags have been called the “flower of Africa” because of their ubiquitous presence as discarded items throughout the landscape. Similar to other African countries, the litter created by plastic bags is considered one of Mali’s worst ecological problems, polluting waterways, harming animals and harboring disease. The annual flooding of the Niger River that flows through Mali benefits the surrounding agricultural region, but leaves behind stagnant water in all the plastic refuse – bags in particular – which creates breeding grounds for malarial mosquitoes.
Plastic bags litter Nairobi, a scene also common in Mali and throughout Africa
In 2007, the Aga Khan Foundation began a social development project in Mopti, a port city on the Niger River, to recycle plastic bags into street paving blocks. Mopti, apparently, needed a major cleanup and economic revitalization. The recycling program engaged local residents of Mopti to collect discarded plastic bags and bring them to a workshop, where the plastic was melted down, mixed with sand to create a paste, and poured into a mold for a paving block. These “stones” were used to pave several of the city streets. France 24 reported that, a year later, the project had helped transform Mopti to a clean city where business was booming and tourism increasing. Watch their report on “Mopti’s ‘ecological’ pavestones”:
The downside to the Aga Khan recycling project, however, is evident in the above video: the process releases toxic fumes that endanger the workers, and the protective masks they wear seem inadequate. Enter: Mali Health Organizing Project (MHOP) and engineers from Brown University. Earlier this year, they reported an attempt at designing a healthier and more sustainable method to recycle Mali’s plastic bags into paving blocks. They describe it as “a parabolic solar collector to collect the sun’s energy and melt these bags using that energy.”
MHOP's Transforming Trash prototype uses solar energy and controlled heat to melt plastic bags for recycling
The solar-powered plastic recycler looks like a well-intentioned design solution to Mali’s plastic problem, but it’s still a solution from afar and doesn’t address the heart of the problem – the production and consumption of plastic bags. Some African countries have banned the use of certain types of plastic bags (targeting especially the thinnest bags that can’t be reused), and Nigerian scientists are currently working to create biodegradable bags for widespread commercial production and use. Even more effective might be to address waste management efforts and changing consumer habits and behaviors.
Mali has developed some homegrown solutions to the pervasiveness of plastic, in the form of industrially produced household goods of recycled plastic:
Recycled plastic goods on a street in Bamako, Mali
Recycled plastic kettles used by many Malians for daily ablutions
Malian artisans also recycle plastic to make wares such as baskets, prayer mats, jewelry, toys, etc. According to the Made in Africa website, “above all, it is manual craftsmen who work with recycled materials. Leftovers from local industry are collected and used as raw materials in their respective production activities.” As in many other parts of the world, the daily industry of some Malians includes collecting and sorting trash, either exchanging it for cash at factories and workshops where it will be recycled, or repurposing it themselves to create utilitarian and aesthetic objects.
Malian baskets made of recycled plastic bags