380 million metric tonnes of plastic are produced annually worldwide, which is set to grow to 1.3 billion metric tonnes by 250, under a business-as-usual scenario. Ghana, alone, currently produces 1.1 million tonnes of plastic, of which only 2-5% is currently recycled, the rest end up in landfill (38%), land (28%), sea (23%), or burned (11%).
Plastic pollution has quickly become one of the world's most serious environmental problems. This problem is especially evident in developing countries where the production rate of plastic has outpaced their ability to recycle or how to efficiently dispose of them.
With 63% of Ghanaians sourcing safe drinking water from sachet water, packaged in small, heat-sealed plastic bags, much of this plastic waste is from drinking water sachets and other sachets that have been carelessly discarded. Discarded sachet bags pose serious environmental risks from being a fertile ground for mosquitoes to breed in, blocking drains and if burnt, cause air pollution.
As a Ghana-based commercial social enterprise, Trashy Bags Africa have identified a function for this waste, creating durable and sustainable items from reclaimed plastic drinking water and ice-cream sachets.
All products are upcycled from reclaimed plastic sachets which are not reprocessed in any way apart from cleaning, ensuring very little energy is used to add value to a material that would otherwise end up in landfill or burnt.
Trashy Bags Africa understand that the production process of upcycling the used water sachets to ensure that the company does not make any negative impact on the environment, economy, or community, must use only environmentally sustainable resources whilst upholding socially responsible policies.
Each month nearly 200,000 plastic sachets are collected by a network of commercial enterprises, each obtaining an income from their efforts, now giving value to waste.
By eliminating waste & pollution whilst keeping the plastic waste material in use, this enables the company to deliver a circular economy framework reducing the ecological and environmental impact as well as recycling product offcuts into plastic pellets, which are then sold to local manufacturing companies.
Our Vision
To be Africa’s pioneer and leader in developing a commercial and sustainable approach for waste material and single-use water sachets bags across Africa.
Our Mission
To alleviate Ghana and other Sub-Saharan countries from plastic waste by introducing sustainable means of recycling that produces eco-friendly commercially viable products that can be marketed and sold internationally.
Our Goal
By upcycling practical and distinctive bags directly from the sachets collected from the streets Trashy Bags Africa is:
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Demonstrating that waste plastic can still be useful long after it has outlived its original purpose.
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Creating employment by paying for sachet collections, employing people to wash the sachets, and then stitching them into bags.
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Helping to keep the streets and residential areas cleaner, thereby making the environment more attractive and safer for all.
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Reducing the need for new single-use plastic bags to be manufactured and given away at food and other retail outlets
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Using an opportunity to educate people in Africa about the dangers of land pollution and encouraging them to dispose of their rubbish responsibly.