The government of The Gambia has launched its new National Action Plan to End Plastic Pollution, which was approved by cabinet earlier this year. Developed in partnership with Common Seas, industry experts and local stakeholders, the plan outlines a comprehensive roadmap to reduce plastic pollution in The Gambia by 86% over the next decade.
By 2050, an estimated 12 billion tons of plastic waste is expected to be in landfills and the natural environment.
Throughout its lifecycle, plastic threatens our climate, our oceans, our economies and even our bodies. Addressing the plastic pollution problem is a key priority to safeguard biodiversity, protect communities and economies, and deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in particular SDGs 12, 13, 14 and 15.
While a Global Plastics Treaty will help to address the many cross-boundary challenges related to plastic pollution, governments can still prioritise national action against plastic pollution today. This will pave the way for a more resilient and healthy future, in preparation for a legally binding treaty.
The Gambia is on the right track to do this, by prioritising the development of a National Action Plan to tackle plastic pollution. The Government’s 2015 Ban on Plastic Bags Order further illustrates that The Gambia is on the right track.
In 2022, Common Seas entered into partnership with the National Environment Agency in The Gambia to understand the scale of the country’s plastic pollution problem and identify and implement policies to tackle it.
Common Seas’ Plastic Drawdown tool was used to analyse the problem and assess potential policy interventions that could reduce pollution and form part of an ambitious National Action Plan to tackle plastics pollution in The Gambia.
This report sets out the results, disclosing the finding that an estimated 22.8 thousand tonnes of plastic waste was generated in The Gambia in 2021 – of which 27% subsequently leaked into aquatic environments. Without action, plastic waste generation is expected to increase by 42% by 2033.
However, Common Seas’ analysis suggests that by implementing the following five strategies, The Gambia annual plastic pollution could reduce by 86%. This involves eradicating single-use plastic carrier bags; tackling other plastics
bags, including water bags; tackling single-use plastic bottles; confronting ‘on-the-go’ food and drink plastic packaging; and improving solid waste collection and management. Developed in consultation with key government partners and a wider expert group of stakeholders (to ensure that the analysis is fully informed by the knowledge and expertise of those organisations and people most closely involved in the use and disposal of plastics in The Gambia), this report will form the basis of The Gambia’s National Action Plan, a document that is likely to be required from each signatory to the Global Plastics Treaty.
.
A minority of plastic waste generated in The Gambia enters the solid waste management system.
This means that 17.2 thousand tonnes of plastic waste enters the terrestrial and aquatic environment every year - equating to 6.9kg per capita of plastic waste disposed of subsequently leaking into the environment annually.
The main items escaping into the environment are single use items: plastic bottles, plastic bags including: small water bags, carrier bags, food & drink packaging, microplastics in the form of tyre wear, microbeads, pellets, and clothing fibres from washing clothing
Plastic waste generation is expected to increase by 42% between 2021 and 2033.
Without action, plastic waste leakage into the environment is also expected to increase by 42% by 2033 meaning that, cumulatively, an estimated 95 thousand tonnes of plastics will escape from The Gambia into rivers and the sea between now and 2033.
Five system-change strategies will help address the key sources of The Gambia’s plastic pollution. Analysis using the Plastic Drawdown tool suggests that by 2033, these five strategies have the combined potential to reduce annual plastic pollution in The Gambia by 86%.
Plastic pollution in The Gambia comprises both macroplastics and microplastics. This action plan focuses on macroplastic pollution, a key element of plastic pollution in The Gambia and the component that can be tackled with action today. Action to address microplastics will require careful consideration and international action over coming years.
Strategy 1 - Eradicate single-use plastic carrier bags
This strategy includes the following actions:
- Policy 1.1: Update of the existing plastic carrier bag ban, through education and engagement campaigns, and improved enforcement
- Policy 1.2: Develop a standard for reusable bags, plus launch a design competition for a ‘reusable bag for The Gambia’
Strategy 2 - Tackle other plastic bags, including water bags
- Policy 2.1: Ban on small single-use plastic bags
- Policy 2.2: Installing public water fountains
- Policy 2.3: Improving the supply and quality of potable water
Strategy 3 - Tackle single-use plastic bottles
- Policy 3.1: Phased ban on single-use plastic bottles
- Policy 3.2: DRS for all other plastic bottles
Strategy 4 - Tackle ‘on-the-go’ food and drink plastic packaging
- Policy 4.1: Ban of selected SUP food and drink packaging items
- Policy 4.2: Introduce a charge on those SUP food and drink packaging items that are not banned
Strategy 5 - Improve solid waste collection and management
- Policy 5.1: Improve solid waste collections and recycling
- Policy 5.2: Higher standards for storage and management of solid waste
- Policy 5.3: Improve ‘on-the-go’ waste collection (key supporting policy)
- Policy 5.4: Introduce an EPR scheme for all SU packaging
.
