By Doug

A new short film from Senegal — The Human Side of Plastics – Babacar Thiaw — will interest the anti-plastic warriors among Q4TK readers. It presents a very compelling view of community-based action to combat unmanaged plastic waste in Senegal. Set along the coast, the cinematography underscores a powerful narrative. As someone who served in Peace Corps in West Africa long ago, this really spoke to me. Already in the 1980s, plastic waste despoiled parts of the Atlantic Coast in West Africa.

Subsequently, the problem grew. This arose not only from dumping of domestic waste. Imports of plastic waste from advanced economies into Senegal and other West African countries also contributed. Per AFRIPAC’s Senegal Country Factsheet (2025), cumulatively, Senegal imported 11,426 tonnes of plastic waste between 2011 and 2022. (This refers to products classed as HS3915 in the standard classification for traded goods.) Imports of these waste products peaked in 2019 at 4,910 tonnes, before then falling sharply to 372 tonnes.

In 2019, an update to an international agreement known as the Basel Convention contributed to the decline in imports of plastic waste. Under the amendment, governments agreed as of 2021 to tighten controls on cross-border plastic waste shipments. This made it harder to send “dirty” or unsorted plastic scrap to developing countries like Senegal (non-OECD countries) without prior consent. And, national law and regulation changes followed (for example, Law No. 2020-04 outlawed some single-use bottles and packaging in Senegal).

Further progress is sorely needed. But, as the filmmakers make clear, there is a basis for hope. Community awareness of the problem is growing and folks are responding with concrete actions to combat plastic waste in Senegal. The tide may be shifting in a manner that encourages additional domestic reforms.

Screengrab from the short film “The Human Side of Plastics – Babacar Thiaw” by Rush Sturges, Ben Ayers & Andrew Lynch (2024)