COP31: Experts call for zero waste, as Africa grapples with mounting garbage

And zero waste is also in the climate agenda at COP 31. The issue has become a growing climate challenge across Africa. Rapid urbanization and rising consumption are producing ever more rubbish, while collection and recycling systems struggle to keep pace. The impact goes beyond pollution. Organic waste dumped in landfills releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas. And as governments search for solutions, A new report warns against a growing push to waste-to-energy incineration. Let's bring in Mponwe Minet Mnawabe. Welcome. So let's start with the bigger picture. So how significant is the contribution of waste management to Africa's climate crisis and why has it received so little attention? Thank you so much for the question. Waste, poor waste management is actually one of the biggest climate issues we are facing in Africa. But unfortunately, waste is not actually considered or treated as a climate issue because most of the time you find waste budgets just in the municipal budget and most of the time you don't find them in industry budgets and it is very limited. And also, waste is usually... Just left to the poor or waste, informal waste pickers. And there is very weak, of course, there's very weak waste management in Africa because we lack the structure, we lack the resources. And most of the times people tend to incineration, which is very costly. And, you know, climate finance is still really an issue. That is why most Africans are actually advocating for access to funding in order to be able to manage their waste. 50% to 60% of the municipal waste is actually organic waste. And, you know, organic waste is the major source of methane. So waste is actually a climate issue, but it is not yet mainstream or really considered a priority in Africa. GAIA is a global environmental network, which you're also a part of. It describes incineration as a false climate solution. Why is that? I'm Gaia. Describe incineration as a forced climate solution because incineration is very costly and, you know, we do not have the resources. Incineration as well causes pollution. It actually also produces fossil carbon. And it is also very, very costly because cities do not have the resources or both human and material resources to actually... Push forward with incineration and, you know, organic waste is the highest form of waste produced in Africa. So Gaia, which is the most popular or most known network that works on waste management is actually... Thank The network that is maybe working in most African countries, so it describes methane, oh sorry, it describes incineration as a first solution you because we do not have the resources yet in Africa. very So is there any realistic alternative to incineration then? What are the solutions? much. Yeah, there are other solutions, for example, recycling, composting, that's especially sorting from the source. And now we are also getting into textile waste recycling. We are getting into upcycling and downcycling. Thank you. And there are other cities in Africa that are already actually succeeding in that. For example, we have Oban in South Africa, and we also have Accra. That's in Ghana, like the Green Africa Youth Organization. I used to work for them and they won the Ed Short Prize Award because they are actually into organic waste management where they actually compost the organic waste and turn it into manure or what we call fertilizer for farming and urban gardening. So those are some of the alternatives to incineration. You gave the example of some cities that are actually doing a good job, but it's probably difficult for other African cities where even basic waste collection infrastructure is still lacking. Yes, for example, my country, Cameroon, so waste is being managed by a parastatal, and the collection process is very challenging because they have limited materials or limited workers, and it is really a big problem in most Francophone African countries because of the way waste is being managed. It is not managed directly by the government. The government sorts out or the government partners with other independent companies to manage the waste. So it is really a problem in most countries, but I think Rwanda, South Africa and Ghana... excelling already, and to an extent, Kenya. So hopefully, I think that with time, other countries are actually going to maybe improve in that sector, because recently I was in Ghana in August, and they created an association of informal waste pickers. And, you know, such association actually brings together those informal waste workers, and they train and empower them on how to actually recycle. Or how to compost the organic waste. And sometimes sorting from source is actually the problem. People do not really know how to sort their waste from source. And it is really a big problem. So my organization in Cameroon called Soft Power Global, we are trying to tackle different schools to create Zero Waste Club, where we are going to train students on how to sort their waste. We believe that when you... Train them when they are still young. You can actually help them understand the process. But training adults or trying to make people change from what they've been used to is usually really a big problem. But we are hopeful. Hopeful and investing in the future. That's very good. Thank you very much, Conway Minet-Nwabe, a climate change activist and also live from Antalya in Turkey, assisting at the COP31. Thank you very much for your analysis.