Page 26 - Plastics News November 2020

Study to tackle impact of Plastic pollution in Africa

A new £3.85 million study led by the University of Stirling
is aiming to understand the public health risks and
environmental impact of plastic pollution in developing
countries.
Plastic waste pollution, aggravated by inefficient waste
collection and limited recycling capabilities, is
prevalent across Africa. However, the continent also has
a growing, youthful population that values improving the
quality of life and readily adopts technologies toward
this end.
According to reports it is estimated that , over 1 million
tons of plastic is thrown away in South Africa every year.
Approximately 500 shipping containers of waste are
dumped in Africa every month. In the last study, only 10% state and is either burned or dumped in areas near
of all trash produced in Africa was recycled.
human settlements – including along roads, at bus
This makes Africa especially suitable as a test bed to stations, and in storm water channels or rivers.
investigate the effectiveness of new technologies for “Discarded plastic waste in urban or peri-urban
solving environmental problems. In addition to environments poses serious health and environmental
consumers pushing brands to be more environmentally
challenges. Plastic bags in particular can block drainage
responsible, a business case also exists in Africa that systems and lead to localised flooding, which can
enables brands to invest in technologies that promote a increase the risk of human exposure to raw sewage and
circular economy. As such, a trend for plastic waste the spread of waterborne pathogens, such as cholera
remediation efforts in Africa that relies principally on and typhoid, in highly-populated areas.
consumer engagement to create a plastics circular
“Plastics in the environment can also act as a receptacle
economy has emerged
for rainwater and create a larval habitat for medically-
A new £3.85 million study led by the University of Stirling important mosquito species in urban environments and
– is aiming to understand the public health risks and potentially increase the incidence of vector-borne
environmental impact of plastic pollution in developing
diseases such as malaria, Zika and dengue. There is also
countries.
the threat of microplastics entering the food chain
The research will focus on waste management practices through the consumption of vegetables grown in
in Tanzania and Malawi – two of the world's poorest polluted environments.
countries, and with differing legislation towards plastics “Our research will provide a critical understanding of
– to explore the sources and economic and behavioural how plastic waste affects human health and the
drivers of pollution.
environment in low- and middle-income countries and,
The work will seek to identify the best interventions, by identifying the key structural barriers that are
policies and regulations to best mitigate human health needed to shift the policy landscape and trigger
risks posed by plastic pollution in developing countries. behavioral change, the SPACES project aims to provide
Professor Richard Quilliam, of the University's Faculty of tangible solutions.”
Natural Sciences, is Principal Investigator on the new The project will focus on three themes; i)The sources
project, Sustainable Plastic Attitudes to Benefit and economic and behavioral drivers of plastic pollution
Communities and Their Environments (SPACES). It is in Tanzania and Malawi, ii) the impacts of plastic
funded through UK Research and Innovation's (UKRI) pollution on human health in terms of blocked drainage,
Global Challenges Research Fund and brings together the increased flooding and the subsequent spread of
University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania); University of pathogens such as cholera; provision of transient
Malawi, The Polytechnic; Liverpool School of Tropical receptacles for breeding mosquitoes; reduced air
Medicine; Malawi-Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical quality from burning plastics; contamination of food
Research Programme (Malawi); University of growing in urban and peri-urban areas and iii) the
Strathclyde; Durham University; and Heriot-Watt development of novel strategies for intervention,
University. mitigation and sustainable adaptation by local
Professor Quilliam said: “In most sub-Saharan African communities.
countries, municipal solid waste is collected in a mixed The team comprising natural and social scientists,

NOVEMBER 2020 26 Plastics News