RESS RELEASE
11 March 2022, Brussels
Waste Free Oceans launches a cleanup in Lagos Island in collaboration with DOW
The recent partnership between WFO and Dow brings the global campaign “Pulling our Weight” and the cleanup projects “WFO Africa Roadshow” to Nigeria.
The Pulling our Weight campaign in Nigeria, resulting from the collaboration between WFO and Dow, will finally take place today on March 11, 2022 in Lagos.
This global campaign initially addresses the issue of plastic pollution and encourages a more responsible waste management through cleanups and educational projects. For that purpose, approximately 4500 people gathered worldwide to remove four pounds of waste in waterways and beaches, corresponding to the average amount of waste produced by one person every day.
Up to now, more than 1 million pounds of waste have already been removed in many locations in the world, from Asia to Africa and the Americas.
The main goal of Dow’s initiative is to encourage a circular economy for plastics. In fact, a better management of plastics during their whole lifecycle would reduce the major impact they have on the environment while continuing to play a crucial role in the economy. This is the reason why Dow strives to clean up waste in the nature, to develop technologies to recycle it, and to prevent it from again ending up in the environment.
As for Waste Free Oceans, Pulling our Weight represents one of the final steps of our Africa Roadshow cleanups and raising-awareness events on plastic pollution which already took place in Togo, the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Gabon, Congo and Cameroon in 2021. Today, WFO’s and Dow’s volunteers, together with our local partner Wecyclers – a pioneer in serving recycling solutions to low-income communities – will continue the tour in Lagos for the Pulling our Weight campaign. All the waste collected will be sorted and recycled locally in order for Dow to eventually develop new products.
The WFO Africa Roadshow is one of the projects launched by WFO Global since it extended its activities to Africa in September 2020. Through its projects, WFO has the ambition to alert the community on the terrible environmental consequences that result from a poor plastic waste management, as well as to encourage the inhabitants and authorities to address the issue. The objective would be to develop a local sustainable circular economy, to support local entrepreneurs, and to reinforce their plastic recycling industry.
Follow the journey:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WasteFree0ceans
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wastefreeocean
DATE & LOCATION: Lagos Island, Lagos, Nigeria | March 11, 2022
HASHTAGS: #PullingOurWeight , #WFOAfricaTourLagos
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ABOUT DOW
DOW Corporate is a company providing sustainable materials science expertise to customers. For that purpose, Dow Corporate and its different partners collaborate to reduce their carbon footprint and plastic waste.
For more information on: https://corporate.dow.com/en-us.html
ABOUT WECYCLERS
Wecyclers is a for-profit social enterprise in Nigeria which provides recycling services to neighbourhoods with a high population density, therefore supporting sustainability, socioeconomic development and health.
More information on: https://www.wecyclers.com/about
Contact: https://www.wecyclers.com/about
ABOUT WASTE FREE OCEANS
Waste Free Oceans (WFO) is a non-profit organisation that mobilises the fisheries sector, the plastics industry, brand owners, and the wider public, in order to reduce the impact of marine litter in the oceans. WFO's operations focus on marine litter cleanups and “Closing the Loop” projects, enabling new and innovative products to be designed and produced from the collected ocean waste.
Find more information on: https://www.wastefreeoceans.org/
WFO media contact:
CIara H0YAS
cIara.hoyas@wastefreeoceans.org
Avenue de Cortenbergh 71
1000 Bruxelles, Belgium
