SMEP Projects
The SMEP programme contracts research and funds pilot projects that are implementing solutions to mitigate manufacturing pollution and plastics wastes in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. These projects are diverse in their approaches and are led by a range of organisation types. The central objective of the work is to implement and test solutions, be they business models or technologies or a combination, and to prove effective pollution mitigation and viability for wider uptake.
Through SMEP’s targeted procurement calls, a total of 27 projects have been selected for funding across Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to pilot solutions within one of SMEP’s five intervention areas: Plastics Waste, Organic Waste and Water, Textiles, Tanneries and Used Lead Acid Batteries.
Sub-Saharan Africa
South Asia

The Agrimulch Project
Biodegradable Fishing Nets
Biodegradable Fishing Nets
The Flipflopi Project
The Ghana Clean-up Project
The Fresh Produce Impact Hub (FreshPPact)
The Plastic-to-Ghar Project
The GIVO-Warwick Project
Eco-friendly Roofing Materials
The B-Prism Project
Scaling RECP in Nairobi Rivers
Assessing biogas feasibility at RioFish
A Multi-technology Organic Waste Solution
Complete Pineapple Waste Solutions
Biochar Production from Food & Beverage Waste
Wastewater Treatment in Plastics Recycling
Recycling Used Lead-Acid Batteries
Enhancing Wastewater Management
Zero Liquid Discharge Technology
Uganda Circular Textiles
Reverse Resources
SAFECONOMY
BANATEX-EA
The Green Tannery Initiative
LeatherTrace Bangladesh
Improving Environmental/Social Conditions in Savar
Traceability, Cleaner Production and Circularity

Notes maps are not to scale. Countries in green are specific target countries mentioned in the SMEP Business Case. While a high-level overview of project themes can be found on this map, the information is not exhaustive. For more detailed information on individual projects, please visit the relevant project page below.
SMEP's individual project pages

Zero Liquid Discharge installation for purifying and reusing up to 95% of textile wastewater at key Bangladesh suppliers
This project aims to create a business case for sustainable practices in Bangladesh’s RMG/Textile factories. By showcasing innovative technologies, including a modular Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) system, the initiative will demonstrate technical viability and pilot a 1% surcharge business model.

Optimising a textile manufacturing facility as demonstration site to reuse water and enhance wastewater management
The textile industry faces environmental challenges such as excessive water consumption and wastewater pollution. Bangladesh’s textile manufacturing industry has announced sustainability goals, including reducing its blue water footprint and meeting wastewater guidelines. This project aims to showcase that this goal can be realised and address social and environmental water impacts

Reverse Resources – using data to revolutionise textile waste management and recycling
Reverse Resources provides a digital traceability solution to the current mismanagement of textile waste through tracing the waste and connecting it with textile-2-textile recyclers. The platform furthermore enables real-time data and statistics of waste flows to encourage evidence-based decision making and to support the growth of this new market.

Uganda Circular Textiles
The Uganda Circular Textile project is designed to support a transition to a local Ugandan textile manufacturing base by incorporating clothes that would have otherwise ended up in landfill into new products and design. The project will assess the existing second-hand textile value chains in Kampala to establish the types

Scaling Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production (RECP) in the Nairobi Rivers Basin
The project is designed to address water pollution caused by the discharge of untreated industrial effluent by multiple industry types within the Nairobi Rivers Basin

Piloting Biochar production from Food and Beverage Waste
Sanergy aims to establish a first-of-its-kind biochar production facility in Kenya to combat organic waste from the food and beverage sector. SMEP is funding the feasibility study which precedes the establishment of this pilot plant.