Banjul, The Gambia

To reduce landfill and incineration waste, U.S. Embassy Banjul’s Green Committee began a recycling and reuse program for newspapers, shredded paper, magazines, plastic bags, glass bottles and jars, and aluminum cans. They found an opportunity to fulfill their mission of eco-diplomacy by creating partnerships with local community members to upcycle, including:

• The Paper Recycling Project, a local non-governmental organization, which mixes paper with sawdust and compresses it into bricks that are sold as fuel to local businesses. Magazines are converted into products of higher value, or upcycled, to make beads for necklaces and bracelets, and plastic bags are woven into various types of reusable bags.
• The Association of Small-Scale Enterprises in Tourism (ASSET), which advocates for Gambian businesses, such as craft market vendors, tourist taxi drivers, official tourist guides, juice pressers, and fruit sellers, as well as a number of small hotels and ground tour operators. Bottles, jars, and cans are delivered monthly to ASSET, which uses them as containers to sell local honey, jam, oil, and wine. The cans are also upcycled into jewelry and bicycle safety reflector strips.

Between these two partnerships, U.S. Embassy Banjul recycles, upcycles, or reuses 3,200 newspapers, 2,600 plastic bags, 100 bags of shredded paper, and 360 magazines every year.

Fuel brick made from recycled magazines