Deekali Plastic Recycling Project – Brightening Senegal’s Future 

“I’ve spent almost 15 years here. I work with women and men to collect plastic. Without our presence, the waste would have already overflowed onto the road and into the streets. We can recover several tons of plastic every day. Before, people would just burn the plastic instead of collecting it. But now, many have embraced it, and some come to sell it to me.”   

Khassim Diagne is a plastic collector dedicated to removing tons of plastic waste from the Thiès landfill in Senegal for recycling and reuse. Located 70 kilometers east of the nation’s capital, Dakar, Thiès is ground zero for an innovative waste management experiment: Deekali Plastic Recovery West Africa, a project developed by African Carbon & Commodities. Khassim’s efforts are integral to this transformative project, which aims to restore Senegal’s natural beauty while providing new opportunities for its people.  

The Plastic Pollution Crisis

Waste management solutions such as Khassim’s work are essential for tackling plastic pollution. The sheer scale of the global plastic  crisis is alarming: 

• An estimated 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic waste has been generated since the 1950s, and plastic production has doubled since 2000, to nearly 400 million metric tons per year.  

• Today, only 71% of plastic produced is formally collected, and less than 15% is recycled. Without action, the annual flow of plastic into the ocean will nearly triple by 2040, to 29 million metric tons per year.   

• Upstream measures alone would reduce plastic leakage by only 65%. Combining upstream efforts with downstream measures that go beyond a company’s own supply chain could reduce leakage by more than 80%! 

• By 2040, there will be a $40 billion funding gap to finance the collection and management of municipal plastic waste.  

According to the World Bank, in 2018, 17 coastal West African countries generated 6.9 million metric tons of plastic waste per year, with 20% of that wasted originating from within 30 kilometers of the coast. While most of that waste is destined to end up in the ocean, mountains of plastic are deposited in makeshift landfills. It is estimated that roughly 80% of plastic waste is mismanaged in coastal West Africa.

By 2025, it is projected that 700,000+ metric tons of Senegal’s plastic waste will be mismanaged. There is no regulated system for sorting recyclable household or business waste. Public waste systems are also underfunded, and waste collection trucks do not reach many villages. With no alternative option, waste is often deposited in or near waterways, where it makes its way to Senegal’s 531 kilometers of coastline, significantly contributing to ocean plastic pollution. 

In 2021, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) declared that plastic pollution disproportionately impacts marginalized communities and nations, constituting an environmental injustice. 

Thankfully, new ideas and new funding mechanisms are helping empower local communities to take action to clean up their environment, while providing sustainable opportunities and better wages. In Senegal, the Deekali Plastic Recovery West Africa Project is sparking hope and creating a cleaner environment. 

Spotlight: Khassim Diagne

• Plastic Collector

  Through plastic collection, Khassim has enjoyed professional growth in recent years. “I believe I’m the first to establish a plastic depot in Thiès. I work with nine to 10 people,” he explained.  

• Plastic collection ambassador

  Plastic collector dedicated to removing tons of plastic waste from the Thiès landfill in Senegal for recycling and reuse.

• Dedicated father

  Daily earnings from plastic collection sustain his family.

• Cleaning communities

  Restoring Senegal’s natural beauty while providing new opportunities for his people. 

Deekali: Giving a Second Life to Plastic Waste 

“Deekali” is a word in Wolof—the most widely spoken language in Senegal—that means “to give a second life, to repurpose.”  

The Deekali Project is a waste reduction revolution. Developed by Africa Carbon & Commodities and certified with Verra’s Plastic Waste Reduction Program, it is the first Verra-certified plastic waste collection and recycling project in Africa and the first in a least developed country. 

The need for the groundbreaking Deekali Project is immense. Senegal has one of the largest landfills in West Africa, with over 2,000 waste pickers and collectors, several hundred of whom live in the landfill itself. Nearly 250,000 metric tons of plastic waste is generated in the country each year. Over 80% of this waste is mismanaged, and only 11% is recycled. 

Plastic waste is often openly burned, found on beaches, in public places, in dumps, or in untreated landfills. This waste pollutes the marine environment, leads to negative health outcomes for residents, and generates microplastics in the soil. As Senegal’s coastline exceeds 700 kilometers, local plastic waste is a significant contributor to ocean pollution. 

The Deekali Project pays plastic pickers to remove waste from the community and repurpose it into valuable goods and commodities. Working with local partners like Proplast, pickers like Khassim bring plastic waste from the community to be recycled and developed into usable products for the people of Senegal.  

Thus far, the project has removed 4,076 metric tons of plastic waste from the environment, with 5,219 tons repurposed and recycled. Since 2022, over 2,200 chairs, tables, school desks, stools, and bookcases have been manufactured from the plastic lumber created through this process. Critically, the project has resulted in a 28% decrease in open burning of plastic waste, improving the health of the Senegalese people.  

This initiative has given a second life to plastic waste, transforming it into valuable resources for the community. 

The People of Deekali 

To date, the Deekali Project has helped create over 300 local jobs, providing steady, sustainable employment to help community members build their lives and increase their standard of living.  

Many Deekali workers have little or no formal education and, before the project began, they worried about meeting their day-to-day family needs. Now, they have stable jobs that generate reliable income. Additionally, more than 50% of Deekali workers are women, enabling them to build community with one another.  

“Work used to be very hard to get,” he said. “We once considered taking boats and travelling like our immigrant brothers, but that has changed since this project came along. Since their arrival, it’s been a rebirth and total support. Nobody wants to leave this place (Senegal). We are proud of this collaboration because we see its value in our lives.”  says Kosso Fall.

For Khassim Diagne, the Deekali Project has been a vital factor in allowing him to remain in his community.  

Through plastic collection, Khassim has enjoyed professional growth in recent years. “I believe I’m the first to establish a plastic depot. I work with nine to 10 people,” he explained.  

And through the Deekali Project, he has also witnessed the widespread impact of plastic collection in his community as a whole.  

“The first thing that plastic collection allows is cleanliness within the community, because it is everyone’s concern, whether it is a small or large family, men, widows, women…” said Khassim. “Their daily earnings from plastic collection sustain their families. So having a project like Deekali to support us can only bring joy. It’s something truly beneficial for the people, for society.”  

Ndeye Asstou Faye has also seen the Deekali Project’s role in helping build stronger families and communities: “I work in the plastic sector, and I am proud of the work I do here, allowing us to earn our living from plastic, and also support and help our respective families, that is, within our families and in the company.” 

Verra: Helping Others Lead

Mamadou Sarr, executive director of Africa Carbon & Commodities, commends Verra for developing the framework to make the Deekali Project possible. In 2021, Verra launched the groundbreaking Plastic Waste Reduction Program (Plastic Program) and the Plastic Waste Reduction Standard to enable the validation of plastic collection and recycling projects, and the verification of collected and/or recycled plastic waste. Through the issuance of Waste Collection Credits and Waste Recycling Credits, collectively known as Plastic Credits, Verra drives finance to projects that improve plastic waste management systems around the world. 

“Africa Carbon & Commodities has developed the Deekali Project because Plastic Credits are important for a country like Senegal in terms of employability,” said Mamadou. “They transform the waste sector into a value-added business and support the social economy that grew up around plastics: the cart driver, the collector, the waste picker, the women who sort, clean, grind, and transform. These are innovators in the making.” 

An innovative finance mechanism, Plastic Credits allow companies to make downstream investments in new or expanded plastic waste collection and recycling infrastructure, particularly in areas disproportionately impacted by plastic pollution. One Plastic Credit equals one metric ton of additional plastic waste collected from nature and/or recycled, and Plastic Credits can be used to finance projects in many areas: the recovery of ocean plastics, municipal or private waste collection infrastructure development, and mechanical, or, as with Deekali, collection via informal waste pickers.  

In other words, Plastic Credits help companies pay for cleanup of the plastic they create where the problem is most severe.  

“The importance of the Deekali Project lies in the fact that the waste sector, worldwide, is not profitable. But now, the Deekali Project can provide funds to support this sector,” Mamadou added. “A sector where these rules are respected, where social responsibility is respected, where people are respected, where transparency exists in the traceability of plastic—all this is thanks to Verra’s standards.” 

Projects that register with Verra’s Plastic Program are audited by accredited, independent, third-party validation/verification bodies and provide a credible transparent opportunity for business to finance these activities within a trusted global framework.  

Thus far, the Plastic Program has projects in over 25 countries, with over 3 million metric tons of plastic waste estimated to be collected or recycled.  

Finance from the sale of Plastic Credits will continue to help scale the Deekali Project, resulting in many positive impacts: 

As this nascent market matures, more and more companies will begin to invest in plastic credits and help develop projects like Deekali Plastic Recovery West Africa all across the globe.