Global Recycling Foundation launches mission for Africa

The Global Recycling Foundation (GRF), an international organization that supports the promotion of recycling and the recycling industry across the world, has launched its 2030 Vision for a Green Africa at a reception in London. The reception marked the start of GRF’s sixth-annual Global Recycling Day, celebrated in more than 50 countries with a global outreach of more than a billion people.   

The green economy has been recognized by the African Union as crucial to employment, economic growth, peace and prosperity, supporting the goals of the African Union’s agenda for 2063.   

GRF’s Africa program for 2030 will focus on five key areas over this decade to help build a collective approach for Africa:  

GRF says its primary focus for 2023 and 2024 will be education through two key projects. This includes the Waste Masters Africa card game and the Waste Masters Africa book series.   

The Waste Masters Africa card game features artists from six countries, including Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia as well as the Wangari Maathai Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to children, designed an educational card game about the importance of waste management and recycling. The organization says it plans to introduce box sets of the game to schools across Africa. It also plans to introduce an app-based version of the game.  

The purpose of the game is to spread the importance of the need to stop dumping waste, increase recycling and reduce pollution.  

For the book series, the organization says it is planning a series of eight books that will serve as “educational study guides,” about recycling and waste management. The series will be for children in grades five through 12 across Africa. The organization says the books will be printed in multiple languages for increased access.  

“Working together with our global partners we will strive to strengthen the Green Economy of Africa helping to promote employment, economic growth, a Circular Economy, health and well-being by enhancing recycling across schools, communities, towns and cities across Africa,” R S Baxi, founder and president of GRF said at the launch. "The next 30 years are set to be years of rapid economic growth for Africa. Climate change, however, is a real and present issue with deforestation, drought, displaced population and rising sea levels set to impact rural and urban economies." 

Global leaders from international recycling associations like the Bureau of International Recycling from Brussels, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries from the U.S., the European Recycling Industries Confederation, the British Metals Recycling Association from the U.K. and the Bureau of Middle East Recycling from the United Arab Emirates were present to support the launch.