DecoPlastic, Sierra Leone

A locally rooted circular economy platform that turns plastic waste in Sierra Leone into marketable products, local jobs and longer-term production capacity.

Plastic waste generated

~130,000 t / year

only around 7,200 tonnes properly recycled domestically (World Bank, 2024)

Freetown collection

46% of households

served by waste collection; only 25% of city waste reaches dumpsites (World Bank, 2021)

Uncollected daily

300+ tonnes / day

buried, burned or dumped in waterways and drains in Freetown

Local context

Why Sierra Leone, why now

Sierra Leone generates an estimated 130,000 tonnes of plastic waste a year, while domestic recycling capacity stays far below national need. In Freetown, more than half of households go without formal waste collection, and blocked drains intensify flooding and public health risk. A peer-reviewed beach-litter study documented plastic as the dominant litter category on Sierra Leone's coastline, making up around 70% of litter by count, led by plastic bottles, water sachets, and caps and lids (Lavelle et al., 2024).

Lead implementation partner

Sierra Leone Engineering Solutions

Sierra Leone Engineering Solutions (C.S.O.), led by Ishmael Faye, is the local implementation lead for DecoPlastic. The team handles operational coordination, local stakeholder engagement, community mobilisation and sourcing relationships on the ground in Sierra Leone.

What makes DecoPlastic local

Built around Sierra Leone's own conditions

Aligned with national policy

Sierra Leone has adopted a National Plastic and Plastic Waste Policy, and Freetown is one of five cities in UNDP and GEF's Shifting to Zero Waste Against Pollution (SWAP) programme. Sierra Leone's national SWAP component, led by the EPA and running 2027 to 2031, gives DecoPlastic a direct policy anchor.

Careful sorting, safer production

A resin-based acceptance matrix guides what enters production. HDPE, LDPE and PP are accepted and processed, PET is kept separate for external recovery, and PVC, PS and mixed plastics are excluded for quality and safety reasons.

Energy built for local conditions

Around 62% of firms in Sierra Leone own or share a generator to cope with frequent power outages. DecoPlastic runs on a hybrid solar, battery and generator system from day one, keeping production and equipment protected.

Want to know more about DecoPlastic

Get in touch to learn more about DecoPlastic, Sierra Leone Engineering Solutions, or the wider Plastic Circle West Africa programme.

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