Ivory Coast has set up the African Center of Excellence for Waste to Value (CEA Valopro). This is a World Bank project that started in 2019 and has received 5.2 million euros in funding from the French Development Agency (AFD). Located within the National Polytechnic Institute Félix Houphouet-Boigny (INP-HB) of Yamoussokro, the institution will train elites, researchers, doctors who will propose methodologies applicable in the African context to value waste, reconvert them and thus contribute to the sanitation of the living environment of the populations of this West African country.
According to Professor Yao Benjamin, project coordinator, the CEA Valopro will develop a high-level training-research-development ecosystem that is attractive and conducive to the emergence of African talent for sustainable waste management. It is part of the general governance of the INP-HB and therefore, its particularity is based on a scientific foundation in order to encourage young graduates to create innovative companies in the waste valorisation sector.
Giving a second life to waste
Ivory Coast has decided to engage in the training of elites in the field of waste management. In this West African country, one inhabitant produces 0.64 kg of waste per day compared to 0.46 kg for the rest of sub-Saharan Africa. Of the approximately 250,000 tons of waste produced per day in Ivory Coast, 90% is not recycled.
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In this context, the authorities are encouraging initiatives such as the Plastock mobile application developed by Recyplast; a company specialized in waste management. Through the launch of the CEA Valopro, the important potential of waste will be valorised in order to improve the performance of the national economy and achieve the twelfth of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) advocated by the 193 members of the United Nations (UN).
Benoit-Ivan Wansi