In the news
Introducing the Zero Waste Academy: Building Africa’s Zero Waste Leaders! 🌍
📅 May – July 2025
GAIA & BFFP Africa, in collaboration with member organisations, are excited to launch its first Zero Waste Academy, a dynamic program, with its roots stemming from the Asia Pacific region, designed to equip individuals and organisations with the skills and tools to implement zero waste solutions across Africa.
The Academy focuses on practical, community-led approaches to waste and methane reduction, as well as sustainable resource management. Participants will gain hands-on experience in waste characterisation, composting, and plastic reduction, while also debunking false solutions and advancing just and inclusive waste management systems.
🚀 What to Expect:
📌 Blended Learning Approach – virtual training “sessions” + in-person workshops
📌 Expert-Led Sessions & Field Visits – Engage with leading zero waste practitioners
📌 Capstone Project – Develop and implement a Zero Waste Action Plan for your community
📌 Networking & Peer Learning – Join a growing movement of zero waste advocates in Africa
🌍 Host: GAIA & BFFP Africa & groundWork
Together, we are scaling zero waste initiatives, and creating a future free from waste and pollution. Stay tuned for more updates!
Zero Waste Stories From Africa is a compilation of zero waste case studies from six different African countries. This publication celebrates the grassroots organisations leading these zero waste initiatives by documenting how their zero waste models work, best practices and the milestones in these projects. These organisations include: Association Zéro Déchet Sénégal, Centre for Environment Justice and Development (CEJAD), Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FOEN), Green Africa Youth Organisation (GAYO), Nipe Fagio, groundWork (gW), Asiye-eTafuleni (AeT), Urban Futures Centre (UFC) from the Durban University of Technology (DUT), Zero Waste Association of South Africa (ZWASA).
The Cape Agulhas Municipality and the Zero Waste Association of South Africa (ZWASA) have embarked on an innovative Zero Organic Waste to Landfill Pilot Project in Bredasdorp, a small town located in the Western Cape of South Africa, with the ambitious goal to divert 100% of organic waste from the landfill by the year 2027.
The group is working towards becoming the first zero waste town in the country by implementing several key strategies. Firstly, the separation of organic waste at source, to prevent the cross-contamination of materials and increase the number of recycled products.
Keith Roman, director of ZWASA and project manager notes: “The landfill crisis in South Africa is mainly due to the fact that municipalities are failing to implement the most favoured option, in terms of South Africa’s Waste Act and Waste Hierarchy, which is prevention. Secondly, municipalities are not separating waste, especially food waste, at the source.” Households in the pilot area are provided with compostable bags, to separate organic waste; green bags, to separate garden waste; recycled clear bags for recyclable materials; and a wheelie bin for residual waste. This system is complemented with a separate collection and transportation system to avoid cross-contamination of recyclables and organic waste. Furthermore, households are provided with a manual on how to separate their waste materials at home.
Additionally, the municipality is in the process of constructing a Material Recovery Park (MRP), which will be an integral part of this project, to maximize the waste diversion potential of the municipal district and extend the available lifespan of the current landfill site.
The MRP will be equipped with a material recovery facility to recover materials; community drop off points, composting and vermicomposting points; as well as a resource and education centre. The park also aims to provide employment opportunities in the operation and management of the MRF, organic waste diversion facilities, material transfer station and the transportation of containers to the regional landfill facility in order to sustain economic growth in the region.
“There are approximately 20 waste pickers working on the Bredasdorp landfill site, the municipality and ZWASA plan to integrate the waste pickers into this system. As well as provide them with the appropriate organisational capacity building, training and mentorship as part of the integration process,” said Keith.
The group is expecting to achieve 50% of waste diverted from the landfill by 2022.
DECLARATION SENT TO GOVERNMENT LEADERS WORLDWIDE ON THE UN INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ZERO WASTE, GAIA SPEAKS AT UN
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 30 March 2023
New York, NY– On the first annual United Nations International Day of Zero Waste on March 30, the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) has released a public declaration signed on by over 200 organizations in almost 60 countries representing zero waste practitioners, policy experts, and community groups. The declaration defines the principles and essential components of “zero waste” that governments must adhere to in order to successfully tackle our global waste problems.
Aditi Varshneya and Joshua Amposen of GAIA’s network will speak at the UN General Assembly inaugural high-level meeting celebrating International Day of Zero Waste and present the declaration.
Amposen states, “We are faced with triple planetary crisis – climate change, pollution and loss of biodiversity – which is threatening our survival on earth. For many communities, zero waste is pivotal to building resilience against climate risk and achieving sustainable socio-economic systems.”
The letter emphasizes the importance of reducing waste through reuse, refill, repair, and redesign, and encourages governments to further critical infrastructure investments and policies that facilitate these systems.
“Zero waste must also center social and environmental justice, redressing the historic harms inflicted on communities at every stage of the linear economy– from those living near extraction and manufacturing sites to the waste pickers working without proper pay or recognition, to the neighborhoods where waste is dumped or burned, especially waste sent from overseas,” says Alejandra Parra, Zero Waste and Plastics Advisor for GAIA Latin America & the Caribbean and co-founder of Red de Acción por los Derechos Ambientales (RADA) in Chile.
GAIA and Zero Waste Europe members around the world have been at the forefront of zero waste solutions worldwide, proving that zero waste is not only possible, it is already happening. Numerous Latin American cities in Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, among others, have robust programs to separately collect organics and recyclables, and ban single-use plastic products. Over four hundred municipalities have committed to zero waste in Europe alone, and cities across Europe and Asia are modeling zero waste solutions that reduce waste by up to 80%.
Zero waste is also a proven climate solution. A recent GAIA study showed that better waste management policies such as waste separation, recycling, and composting could cut total greenhouse gas emissions from the waste sector by more than 1.4 billion tonnes, equivalent to the annual emissions of 300 million cars. Studies show that zero waste systems also support resilient local economies– creating up to 200 times as many jobs as landfills and incinerators.
GAIA members also caution leaders against being taken in by dangerous waste management practices that undermine zero waste. “Waste incineration in any form, including in cement kilns and so-called chemical ‘recycling,’ is climate-polluting, toxic, a drain on public funds, and encourages more wastefulness,” says Weyinmi Okotie, GAIA Africa Clean Energy Campaigner.
Aditi Varshneya, Network Development Manager at GAIA U.S. and Canada states, “We applaud the United Nations for its decision to proclaim March 30th as International Day of Zero Waste. It is a meaningful validation for the thousands of GAIA members who have worked tirelessly for decades to build zero waste systems in their communities that protect both nature, the climate, and human rights.”
Note to the Editor:
The Zero Waste Declaration can be found at https://www.no-burn.org/going-zero-waste/
The UN High-Level Meeting honoring International Day of Zero Waste will be held on March 30 at the General Assembly Hall from 10:00am-6:00pm. The panel discussion that Aditi Varshneya and Joshua Amposen will be speaking at is from 3:00pm-4:00pm and is entitled, “Innovative solutions for promoting sustainable consumption and production: ‘Zero Waste’ initiatives” and will be available via livestream at https://media.un.org/en/webtv.
Press contacts:
Claire Arkin, Global Communications Lead
claire@no-burn.org | +1 973 444 4869