Drive to rid beaches of plastic

With the help of his “Madiba and Nature” app, Ismael Essome collects five tonnes of plastic from homes every month. PHOTO/bird

What you need to know:

The dream of beaches clear of bottles and other plastics is what drives innovator Ismael Essome, a fisheries and aquatic sciences graduate, in his one-man, nationwide environmental campaign in Cameroon.

When Ismael Essome graduated with a degree in fisheries and aquatic sciences from the University of Douala in 2017, he already had an idea of what he wanted to to do...clean up the environment instead of searching for a white-collar job.

“It is a passion, better for me than looking for a job, I have many things I can do by committing to this economy,” he said, to explain his decision.  

This passion propelled him to create a recycling company, Madiba & Nature to help clear plastic waste in and around the beaches and streams of the capital, Douala.

“Plastic bottles were full in the rivers, beaches, everywhere, I decided to tackle it.  It was like a challenge and to see places clean makes me happy,” he said.

30-year-old Essomo can usually be found accompanied by a team of youngsters wearing boots and white jackets, combing through dustbins, gutters and streams in search of plastic bottles. From time to time he responds to calls from concerned citizens who give him leads to where plastic bottles have been sighted. 

 To tackle the plastic bottles menace in the environment, Essome started by organising cleanup parties with volunteers in towns like Douala and Kribi to collect plastic bottles. The cleanups soon gave rise to another problem... what to do with all the plastic.

“For me it was like a problem that the whole nation could not solve, since no one was recycling plastic bottles back in 2011, I decided to take up the challenge,” he said.

Essomo’s first solution was to make something useful out of all the plastics. He settled on a boat that could be used for fishing. So far, he has made 55 eco-boats which he has donated to fisher people in the seaside town of Kribi, in Southern Cameroon.

At his workshop heaps of plastics are packed into bales waiting to be crushed and melted to make sustainable eco-boats.

In February 2021, Essome took his solution a step further by launching the “Madiba and Nature” mobile app. The app aims to help stop plastic bottles from getting into the environment and also serve as a platform to educate the population.

 The user downloads the app from play store, and once installed, requests for an eco-bin. 

“The eco-bin is installed in houses, companies. When it is full, the user sends a message, we come collect and give a kind of incentive. This is sent in through the mobile money,” he said.

When the bin is full, it contains around 10kg of plastic bottles, for which Essomo pays FCFA 500 (about one US dollar).

With the help of the app, he is now able to collect five tonnes of plastic from homes and businesses every month, in addition to the 15 tonnes from rivers and dustbins, during cleanup activities. 

The 20 tons of plastic collected every month is then recycled into eco-boats and furniture. 

According to the United Nations Environmental Programme, about 300 million plastic bottles are produced every year, 8 million of which end up in the Ocean.

In spite of laws outlawing the use of some plastics, Cameroon continues to see plastics of all kinds on roadsides, waterways and beaches.

Mboh Hyacinth, director of Standards and Control at the Ministry of the Environment and Nature Protection and Sustainable Development, attributes this to the fact that some companies do not declare what they produce and plastic smuggled in through the borders. 

Mboh says his ministry has been supporting the actions of individuals like Essome to recycle plastic waste - as well as larger companies that recycle at an industrial level. However, there has been a growing push from civil society for government to rethink its plastic recycling policies and place environmental protection at the center of strategic planning and youth training.

Meanwhile, Essome and his colleagues continue to make a difference on a small scale, doing what they can to make Cameroon a better place for all.

This work was made possible through the support of #AfricaNoFilter, a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

By Leocadia Bongben