Addis Ababa, one of the fastest growing cities in the world, is facing a constant struggle managing the ever-growing amount of waste produced across the city. Most of it is dumped on a landfill, which already exceeded its capacity years ago. This results in the pollution of water and soils, causing serious environmental and public health risks.

Waste management in the city involves collection of garbage at household level, sorting it by hand, delivering recyclable materials to wholesalers, and disposal of the rest. Plastics account for about 15,5% of the waste, and this component of the waste stream is increasingly attracting interest due to the recycling and reselling value of the material. Hundreds of small and micro enterprises (SMEs) are therefore active in this area of waste collection and separation, supplying the plastic recycling value chain.

Enhancing cross-sectoral collaboration for improved waste management

To enhance the efficiency of waste management in the city and thereby protect the environment from pollution, NatuReS supported the establishment of the multi-stakeholder “Partnership for Circular Value Chains”. The partnership offers a forum to strengthen coordination between SMEs working in the waste sector, public authorities, as well as civil society representatives advocating for environmental protection. This prevents the doubling of efforts, miscommunication and inertia that have often impeded effective waste management in the city. Together, partners defined concrete solutions and take actions to improve the plastic value chain in and around Addis Ababa.

Female waste collectors as most vulnerable part of the plastic value chain

The most vulnerable part of the plastic value chain are the waste collectors. Hundreds of people roam the city as informal waste collectors, scavenging for valuable plastics, metals, or carton. Next to these informal collectors, hundreds of formalized SMEs, employing a large number of people, collect waste from households. The price for one kilogram of PET plastic that collectors get paid by wholesalers is currently around 22 Birr (~0,38€).

Among the workforce of waste collectors, there are several groups of marginalized people. Many struggle to make a living from this job, facing harsh working conditions, unstable prices due to inflation and diminishing profit margins. Women are especially affected by these issues. They work all along the plastic value chain, from being collectors at household level to small entrepreneurs in the recycling business. However, in comparison to men, women are underrepresented within SMEs, as they often lack basic technical skills beyond collecting waste and are excluded from decision-making processes. 

Enhance waste management skills and business opportunities for women along the plastic value chain

The partnership therefore undertakes specific efforts to support women as part of the plastic waste workforce. Currently, 100 women from 16 waste management SMEs across four Addis Ababa sub-cities are capacitated to enhance their waste management skills and increase their business opportunities.

Firstly, during a three-day training, the women are supported in developing necessary business skills to run and grow their businesses. This includes aspects such as bookkeeping, understanding and developing market linkages, as well as the development of sound business plans to enhance their income.

Secondly, during practical sessions, the women receive skill development for diversified income strategies. This focused on plastic upcycling crafts, enabling the participants to make an income beyond collecting and re-selling plastic by upcycling their collected plastic waste themselves. Specifically, the 100 women were trained on techniques for the upcycling of plastic straps out of recycled PET plastic into baskets that can be sold on local markets.  

Partnership efforts for female empowerment and more efficient upcycling across Addis Ababa

The training is provided with technical support from “PETCO Recycling Community Organization”, a partner under the partnership. Further support was provided through human resource contributions from the public sector partner, the Addis Ababa Cleansing Management Agency. In total, the training is running for 10 consecutive days, divided in four groups in four locations, to make the content as accessible and targeted to the trainees as possible.

Through the trainings, women are empowered to create a profitable side business along the plastic value chain. Weaving straps out of collected PET plastic waste into baskets will allow the women to diversify their income, mitigate plastic waste price fluctuations and overall strengthen their position as confident part of the recycling value chain.

Planning for a more inclusive future of waste recycling

This specific technique for producing baskets from recycled plastics is only one example, and only the start. The partnership envisions the creation of market linkages between companies and the female waste workers, and the establishment of a new enterprise which will exclusively engage women in upcycling projects. From previous technical trainings provided by partners, they know that the profit margin and demand for such types of upcycling products is high.

The Lake Hawassa catchment in Southern Ethiopia is prone to erosion due to the property of the soil and the topography of the area, however immensely exacerbated by human activity. The expansion of small- and large-scale farms, conversion of wetlands into various land uses and rapid expansion of population and unplanned settlements have resulted in accelerating land degradation – and by consequence siltation of the lake due to sediments being washed into the water.

Stakeholders from public authorities, private companies and civil society have joined forces in 2018 under the “Protecting Lake Hawassa Partnership” to reduce risks affecting the lake collectively across sectors. One task force under the partnership promotes afforestation and soil erosion control measures to tackle the erosion and land degradation challenges.

Training 40 households on beekeeping and the creation of their own businesses

To increase the impact of ecosystem services from the newly forested areas, as well as to provide local communities with alternative income opportunities which are not damaging the environment – the area is threatened by widespread illegal sand mining- partners have upscaled apiculture activities. Previously, ten households had received three beehives each under the partnership, increasing communities’ income opportunities. Creating alternative livelihoods like apiculture or fruit production is an essential part of partnership activities, as environmental protection can only be successful in the long term if local communities either make a living from them or can generate income in an alternative way. An additional forty households were hence trained in beekeeping and business skills and provided with necessary equipment like modern beehives through the partnership. The forty households will also be supported in organising themselves into a cooperative for marketing their honey products as a group, increasing their market power.

Encouraging women towards apiculture

Experts from the Wereda Livestock and Fisheries Office took the lead in organizing the apiculture training, selecting and inviting trainees. The training was held at Hawassa Zuriya Wereda, Dore Bafano town, and was divided into two rounds of a seven-day training between 28^th November and 19^th December 2022. Two people attended from each of the 40 farmer households over the two rounds. 30% of the selected trained households are led by women, and it was key to reach as many female trainees as possible with the training, as women bear a significant share of work while being often excluded from decision-making processes. During the training, women were actively participating, interacting as well as answering questions from other participants. Several of them pointed out that they will be committed to irrigating bee floras and monitoring their bees daily.  

Theoretical sessions contained technical aspects of apiculture like the pollination process or the importance of flora calendars. The larger part of the training however consisted of practical sessions, in which participants familiarized themselves with the beekeeping equipment, learnt how to process beeswax, how to manage a swarm, dividing and uniting colonies, curing diseases and processing honey. 

Necessary skills to establish honey cooperatives

During the practical sessions, the participants worked for example on melting and processing beeswax, printing casting moulds, and foundation sheets. They also discussed their personal experiences and learnt from each other during group exchange sessions.

Part of the training was also capacitating trainees to establish a honey producing and processing cooperative. Hence, in groups they developed action plans which include the set-up of selecting committees, business plans, and a concrete way forward for the cooperative. Every group presented their action plan to the rest of the members. The collective production, processing and selling of honey through a cooperative is essential for communities to establish themselves on the market and negotiate fair prices for their products.

Diverse livelihoods make resilient communities

Communities basing their income on diverse livelihoods are more resilient towards natural disasters, climate change or other unpredictable events. They are able to manage the available natural resources in a more sustainable way, allowing them to make a living from the environment while preserving it for future generations. Protecting Lake Hawassa partners strive to improve the joint management of natural resources around Lake Hawassa, for enhanced economic development and improved livelihoods of local communities.