The debate to save the environment continues all over the world, folk. An item that many of us have used for years and perhaps continue to use without due regard is the plastic bag.
The dangers of plastic bags on ocean life are well document but some folk may not be aware of how plastic bags contribute to poverty in Africa and other developing countries.
How, I hear you ask? Well imagine this, in developed countries when we think about assets, to most of us it’s the homes we own, valuable jewellery etc in some developing countries especially in rural areas, their assets are goats, cows, sheep and other live stock. These are what people trade to send children to school, buy anti malaria tablets etc.
Most African countries do not have the means to recycle plastic bags; in addition some folk are not yet aware of the dangers of carelessly discarding plastic bags.
Imagine therefore if you will a situation where a family wakes up and their prized goat is dead because it swallowed a plastic bag that was carelessly disposed of! I have seen this with my own eyes and the despair in people’s eyes when they realised what had happened
Some African governments such as the Ugandan government have realised the effect of plastic bags on the environment and outlawed them in 2007 and incredibly whilst in some circles this was welcomed there was outrage in others.
Some amongst you may donate clothing to send out to Africa, like plastic bags there are no facilities to recycle nylon and other artificial fabrics; these too end up on agricultural land causing untold damage. Please therefore bear this mind, next time you donate an item of clothing to be sent out to Africa.
There is one thing that doesn’t make sense even to me, African women weave the most amazing baskets, which are environmentally friendly, and are free unlike the plastic bags, why then do folk out there chose to use plastic bags instead?
October 5, 2009 at 1:29 pm
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October 7, 2009 at 5:13 am
this is a project where plastic bags are actually used to help alleviate women’s poverty
http://gafreh.ouvaton.org/index.php
I am a proud owener of their Kenza bag, really cool and useful, and nicer than on the photo
October 7, 2009 at 6:13 am
Hi Fatou,
Welcome to the discussion. I am very keen on projects that support women to lift themselves out of poverty
Would you please tell us more about your project?
How do the plastic bags help these mean?
How did the project come about?
How do you make the bags?
Where are these bags sold?
Have you seen any improvements in the women’s lives since the project’s inception?
What about envrionmental improvements?
So many questions but my readers are really interested in this type of project and so am I
October 7, 2009 at 6:37 am
Hi
I am not involved in the project, I just bought a couple of bags. I do research in the same town where the project is based so I spend several months a year there.
I have limited information about the project,
I know that it is a women’s cooperative. They collect old plastic bags that lie around the town, and make threads out of them, then they weave them on a large loom, using the same technique as for cotton weaving. Women are employed in all the stages of the production, so it heps them in terms of income
It helps the environment by cleaning up the streets from plastic bags lying around but it does not do enough I guess to discourage people from using plastic bags in the first place.
for more information you should contact the project, I think all the links are on their website
October 7, 2009 at 10:57 am
That is very help and interesting information. Yes I agree whislt it doesn’t stop people from using plastic bags at the very least the bags are removed from the environment and provides women with gainful employment.
May I ask what your research is about?
October 7, 2009 at 11:49 am
I am a social anthropologist. Research topics include: everyday life practices, islam, food and eating, gender, local ideas about success and futurity etc.
October 7, 2009 at 1:22 pm
That sounds interesting it is the sort of research that gets you into teh day to day lives of communities. There are some on line platforms that you may find interesting such as http://rebrandingafrica.ning.com/ and http://businessfightspoverty.ning.com/
October 15, 2009 at 8:50 am
[…] I have recently written about the effects of plastic bags on poverty in the developing world and you can read about that here. […]