Afri-Plastics Challenge names 30 creative projects to inspire plastic pollution behaviour change

Innovation foundation Nesta Challenges has announced the semi-finalists of Promoting Change, the third and final strand of the £8.3m Afri-Plastics Challenge. The contest aims to reduce marine plastics in Sub-Saharan African countries by developing and scaling innovative solutions to plastic mismanagement. Each semi-finalist will be supported with £5,000 of funding and in-kind capacity building support to develop their ideas ahead of finalist selection in June.

Semi-finalists include Virtual Reality storytelling of the plastics lifecycle, blockchain based apps for manufacturers to follow the journey of reusable plastics and the creation of co-operatives to promote plastic alternatives in the fashion and garment industry. Other semi-finalist programmes include women-led campaigns to convince communities to ditch plastic and school education campaigns to encourage children to separate plastic waste from other rubbish.

The 30 selected semi-finalists come from Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Fifteen finalists will then be selected in June 2022, receiving £50,000 each and capacity-building support. Three winners will be chosen in March 2023, receiving £250,000 each.

“Africa’s entrepreneurs and innovators are at the forefront of creating the solutions needed to scale plastics recycling and reduce the volumes of plastics entering the value chain – but their efforts will be for nothing without a groundswell of support from communities to make the circular economy for plastics a well-functioning reality. The semi-finalists announced today are using diverse approaches to engage communities – and particularly women and girls who are so integral to the plastic ecosystem in Africa – to drive the change needed to overcome the unfolding tragedy of unbridled plastic pollution on the continent,” said Adwoa Coleman, Afri-Plastics Challenge judge and Ghana Country Manager for Dow.

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