Empowering youth for plastic recycling

Challenge

Sanuva has identified two challenges that the company is trying to tackle with an innovative approach. First, unemployment, which in Mali is an urban phenomenon affecting young and educated people. The youth in Mali represents 80% of the population, and the unemployment rate for those aged 15-35 was 14.9% in 2017 (1).

Secondly, waste management. According to Bamako’s mayor Adama Sangaré, in 2019, the capital Bamako, with a population of more than 3.5 million, produced more than 1,500 tons of solid waste daily, of which only 30% was disposed of, mainly due to the lack of a final landfill (2).

(1) https://mali.un.org/fr/download/58519/106311#:~:text=L’objectif%20%C3%A9tant%20de%20faire,coh%C3%A9sion%20sociale%20et%20d’engagement.

(2) https://mapecology.ma/actualites/bamako-produit-1-543-tonnes-de-dechets-solides-jour/

Innovative solution

SANUVA Academy offers a hybrid training space and support to help young people find jobs in the circular economy and plastic recycling. The aim is to give young people a pragmatic way of becoming professionals and getting started in a sector that is short of resources, thereby contributing to a circular economy that generates income and has a significant environmental impact.

Impact

• Development and marketing of three hybrid training programs
• Training of more than 330 client-learners in the plastic recycling professions, with an employment/entrepreneurial insertion or career reconversion rate of 50%
• Support for increasing the income of more than 50% of learners