As the New Year 2023 approaches, the authorities of the city of Douala are going to war against the solid waste that litters the streets of the economic capital of Cameroon through the "Recycling Challenge" initiative.
In Cameroon, the city of Douala is tackling solid waste pollution. It is in this context that the “Recycling Challenge” is launched in the six districts of the Cameroonian economic capital. The operation is led by Roger Njitchoua, the 2nd Deputy Mayor of Douala.
The collected waste will then be recycled into granules and paving stones by the Société de collecte et de récupération pour recyclage (SC2R) headed by Gérard Siankam. The start-up founded in 2016 has for example collected and recycled 500 kilograms of plastics in February 2021 in its plant located in the industrial zone of Bonabéri.
The “Recycling Challenge” was recently launched at the Koumassi Technical High School, to encourage students to better collect household waste in their homes. “Rubbish bins and plastic packaging were distributed to better sort household waste. Each package can be reserved for liquid waste, heavy waste or plastic and paper waste, to facilitate their collection,” explains Roger Mbassa Ndine, the mayor of the city of Douala.
The Koumassi Technical High School is located not far from the Akwa district where commercial activities are intense and generate a large part of the 2,500 tons of waste produced every day in Douala. At the same time, the municipality has launched “Green Peace of Douala”. This related initiative aims to plant 10,000 trees to create natural areas in the heart of the seaside city.
Sustainable urban waste management
In Cameroon, waste management is a growing concern for the authorities. It is in this context that the French company Setec Energie signed an agreement in the first half of 2022 with the Cameroonian government for a feasibility study for the implementation of the project to strengthen waste management systems in 27 secondary cities. The study, which runs until 2023, is financed to the tune of 382 million CFA francs (more than ‘582,000) by the French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty.
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The private sector also contributes to sanitation in Cameroon through citizen initiatives. This is the case of the Société anonyme des brasseries du Cameroun (SABC), which organises the “Holidays without Dirts” programme every year. Between July and August, this concept mobilises 100 young people in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé to collect and recycle plastic waste with the ultimate goal of reducing pollution. The packaging and plastic bottles collected will then be recycled into kitchen utensils or construction tiles by the brewer SABC, which packages its soft drinks in PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) bottles.
Benoit-Ivan Wansi
