{"id":3398,"date":"2026-05-26T04:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T04:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/?p=3398"},"modified":"2026-05-26T04:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T04:16:10","slug":"africa-day-2026-environmental-groups-demand-end-to-waste-colonialism-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/2026\/05\/26\/africa-day-2026-environmental-groups-demand-end-to-waste-colonialism-in-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Africa Day 2026: Environmental Groups Demand End to \u201cWaste Colonialism\u201d in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Africa marked Africa Day<\/span><\/span>, environmental organisations across the continent renewed calls for urgent action against what they describe as \u201cwaste colonialism\u201d \u2014 the continued export of hazardous waste from wealthy nations to African countries.<\/p>\n

The statement, jointly issued by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives<\/span><\/span> and Break Free From Plastic<\/span><\/span> Africa, condemned the practice of shipping plastic waste, e-waste, textile waste, and other hazardous materials from high-income countries to nations with limited waste management capacity.<\/p>\n

The organisations said African countries are increasingly becoming dumping grounds for waste generated in the Global North, often disguised as recyclable materials.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are witnessing our environments, our communities, and our informal waste workers being forced to shoulder a burden that is not theirs,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

The groups noted that despite decades of global recycling campaigns, only 9 percent of all plastic produced since the 1950s has been recycled. They accused countries including the United States<\/span><\/span>, Italy<\/span><\/span>, Germany<\/span><\/span>, and Greece<\/span><\/span> of continuing to export hazardous waste to African nations.<\/p>\n

Environmental advocates highlighted growing concerns in waste hotspots such as Accra<\/span><\/span>, Nairobi<\/span><\/span>, and Lagos<\/span><\/span>, where dumpsites reportedly contain illegal imports of toxic electronics, hazardous plastics, second-hand clothing, and chemical waste.<\/p>\n

The statement also raised alarm over the impact on vulnerable communities, particularly children working in toxic dumping sites.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost tragically, children are working in toxic waste dumps, exposed to chemicals and pollution with devastating health impacts, because wealthy nations continue to benefit from global systemic inequality,\u201d the organisations said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Piles of imported ”second hand” clothes at a landfill in Accra, Ghana. Image Credit: Upcycle It Ghana \/ GAIA Africa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gilbert Kuepouo<\/span><\/span>, Executive Director of the Centre de Recherche et d\u2019\u00e9ducation pour le D\u00e9veloppement (CREPD), criticised the slow implementation of the Bamako Convention<\/span><\/span>, which was adopted to prohibit the import of hazardous waste into Africa.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThirty-five years after its adoption, the Bamako Convention counts only 30 ratifications and only three Conferences of the Parties organised,\u201d Kuepouo said. \u201cThis is a paradox for a region that deliberately designed this instrument to protect itself and its people against waste colonialism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Environmental groups argued that while the Bamako Convention offers stronger regional protections than the Basel Convention<\/span><\/span>, weak enforcement and limited political commitment continue to undermine its effectiveness.<\/p>\n

The organisations urged all African governments to ratify and fully implement the convention while strengthening border controls against illegal waste imports.<\/p>\n

Hellen Dena<\/span><\/span>, project lead for the Pan-African Plastic Project at Greenpeace Africa<\/span><\/span>, warned of the widespread effects of waste colonialism, including toxic pollution, carbon emissions, and labour exploitation.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo fix this, we need stronger laws \u2014 like extended producer responsibility and stricter supply chain regulations \u2014 to ensure brands are held accountable from production to disposal,\u201d Dena said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Justine Maillot<\/span><\/span> of the Environmental Investigation Agency<\/span><\/span> called for strict enforcement of new European Union rules on plastic waste exports.<\/p>\n

\u201cEU plastic waste exports to African countries must not only be prohibited on paper, but stopped in reality,\u201d Maillot said.<\/p>\n

The groups also called on Western manufacturers to take responsibility for the waste they generate instead of shifting environmental costs to developing nations.<\/p>\n

Jim Puckett<\/span><\/span>, Executive Director and Founder of the Basel Action Network<\/span><\/span>, praised Africa\u2019s stance against waste imports and urged stronger resistance to plastic pollution.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfrica has led the way in saying no to waste trade. It\u2019s time to lead in saying no to plastic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sirine Rached<\/span><\/span> stressed that reducing plastic production globally remains essential.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlastic waste prevention \u2014 which begins with addressing plastic overproduction \u2014 is critical,\u201d Rached said, adding that future global plastic treaty negotiations must address the issue directly.<\/p>\n

The organisations concluded their Africa Day message with a renewed appeal for environmental justice and protection of future generations.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAfrica\u2019s future generations must not be left to pay the price for the world\u2019s waste \u2014 Africa is not a dumping ground,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Africa marked Africa Day, environmental organisations across the continent renewed calls for urgent action against what they describe as \u201cwaste colonialism\u201d \u2014 the continued export of hazardous waste from wealthy nations to African countries. The statement, jointly issued by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives and Break Free From Plastic Africa, condemned the practice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,685,392],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-climate-change","category-featured"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/stateupdate.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-05-25-at-5.41.35-PM.jpeg?fit=1600%2C1066&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc68Dd-SO","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3398"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3402,"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3398\/revisions\/3402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}