Sustainable Manufacturing and Environmental Pollution Programme

plastics substitutes

SMEP grantees make their mark at the 3rd Africa Waste is Wealth Summit

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The third edition of the Africa Waste is Wealth Summit (AWWS III), held in June 2026, brought together a broad cross-section of stakeholders from across Africa – government agencies, private sector actors, UN bodies, financiers, researchers, and innovators – united by a common agenda: transforming waste from a problem into an economic and environmental opportunity. […]

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Making Plastics Recovery Work: Viability, Traceability and Transition Pathways

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A three-part online webinar series on plastics end-of-life systems in Sub-Saharan Africa Session 1: Making plastics recovery models viableThursday 7 May 2026  Session 2: Traceability, standards and regulatory alignmentWednesday 13 May 2026  Session 3: Substitutes, compostability and regional pathwaysWednesday 20 May 2026  All sessions start at 09:00 UTC / 10:00 WAT / 11:00 CAT /

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Raw potential: How Africa is recasting industrial power beyond plastics

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The future of Africa’s industrialisation may not lie in silicon chips or machine learning but in sustainable natural materials and regional cooperation. Across East and West Africa, governments are moving beyond extractive models and towards policies that fuse environmental resilience with industrial renewal. In Ghana, a national policy blueprint is steering the country’s economy towards

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From Evidence to Impact: SMEP’s footprint on the Global Plastics Treaty

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With mounting evidence of the pervasive nature of the plastics pollution crisis, to the extent that micro-plastic is now found in Arctic ice and human bloodstreams, and global production exceeding 460 million tonnes per year, incremental solutions are no longer enough. The upcoming resumed session of the 5th round of negotiations for the Global Plastics

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From Geneva to Nice and back: SMEP’s circular route to ocean action

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A new global coalition for seaweed has been announced at the 3rd UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3) on 13 June 2025 marking a milestone for ocean and climate resilience, pollution mitigation and equitable and sustainable trade. Echoing the call by UN Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD’s) Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan to promote stronger governance of the ocean economy

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An ocean of waste and opportunity: Rethinking marine pollution at the 2025 UN Ocean Conference

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On 8 June, the UN World Oceans Day invites us to “marvel at a realm that sustains half the planet’s oxygen, cradles most biodiversity and feeds over a billion people”. Yet by 2025, as countries convene for the third time at the 2025 UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in Nice, France, the seas remain choked with

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On the Road to Nice: Tackling ghost gear as 2025 deadline for marine pollution reduction nears

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As the world edges closer to the 2025 global deadline to reduce marine pollution under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.1, momentum is building across governments, businesses, and international organisations to accelerate action for healthier oceans. The UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Nice (9–13 June 2025) is a major checkpoint towards meeting our global commitment to reduce

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