Pollution by plastic bag waste in the Sahel, an evil that is killing the local economy
Plastic pollution in the Sahel (Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger)
Waste plastic bags (LDPE)
Plastic bags: a danger for livestock farming in the Sahel
Whether in Bamako, Niamey or Ouagadougou, when we look around us, we see plastic. The sachet is omnipresent, this phenomenon is not only a reality in the big cities of West Africa, but also in the villages or in the fields. Plastic has unfortunately become an inseparable element of the African landscape in general and that of the Sahel in particular.
According to a study carried out jointly by the Belgian Technical Cooperation (CTB) and the ministry responsible for the environment, 20% of patients seen for consultation at the Ouagadougou Hospital Center suffer from respiratory illnesses linked to poor air quality. This poor quality is partly explained by the fact that plastic waste is burned in the open air.
The use of this packaging causes public health problems, but also environmental problems. Not only do they prevent rain from infiltrating the soil and irrigating it properly, but they also retain water and thus create pools of stagnant water conducive to the proliferation of mosquitoes, vectors of malaria.
Souleymane Chérif COULIBALY. Malian State official. Holder of a Diploma of Advanced Studies (DEA) in Civil Engineering obtained at the National School of Engineers (ENI) of Mali in 2005, holder of a DEA in Modern Literature and Human Sciences obtained in 2014 at the French Institute of Mali, national focal point of Mali of the Basel Conventions on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their elimination, and of Bamako on the ban on the importation into Africa of hazardous wastes and the Control of transboundary movements and management hazardous waste produced in Africa, since August 2021, Head of the Sanitation Division at the National Directorate of Sanitation and Pollution and Nuisance Control (DNACPN) of the Ministry of the Environment, Sanitation and Sustainable Development, since February 2024