Photo (provided by World Animal Protection): Christina Dixon in the field.

The third installment to the African Waste Academy’s Webinar Series was run on the 18th, 19th, 20th and 25th of June 2019. Christina Dixon kicked off the Series with her captivating presentation, “Tackling the Ghosts in Our Oceans: Creating a Circular Economy for Fishing Gear,” where she shared various case studies for sustainably managing end of life fishing gear from around the world (Click here for the presentation slides). Christina explained that ghost gear (lost and abandoned fishing gear) is the deadliest and most harmful form of marine debris, affecting millions of marine animals around the world. Therefore, World Animal Protection aims to influence policy and develop solutions to stop the impact of ghost gear and prevent it altogether.

Julie Myra Alego shared her creative and inspiring projects at the Watamu Marine Association with her presentation, “Community Based Waste Management and Recycling Enterprises” (Click here for presentation slides). Julie explained that the Watamu Marine Association involves local communities and the tourism industry in implementing sustainable waste management strategies to reduce litter in their local area.

Saliem Haider sparked much interest and interaction with his presentation, “When Day Zero is a reality for landfill disposal, and when lifestyle changes must become the norm in terms of waste minimisation” (Click here for presentation slides). Saliem shared the revolutionary waste minimisation strategies implemented by the Stellenbosch Municipality on a feasibility scale and highlighted the importance of collaboration in achieving zero waste to landfill and a change in lifestyle among local communities.

The Series closed with a fantastic review of the marine litter monitoring CLiP (Cefas) is doing around the world, titled, “Data, in Support of Institutional and Individual Behaviour Change Regarding Marine Litter” (Click here for presentation slides). Fiona Preston-Whyte and Dr Adil Bakir explained that the litter data collected (micro to macro litter) will be used to guide policy, individual behaviour and industrial change. Fiona expressed the need for collaboration between different sectors to develop a consolidated marine litter database.

The African Waste Academy would like to once again thank the inspiring speakers of Webinar Series 3 and would like to encourage those interested in presenting in a future series to contact Stephanie Marin at steph@sstafrica.org.za. The next installment to the webinar programme is scheduled for August 2019. Watch our events page for more details.

“Tackling the Ghosts in Our Oceans: Creating a Circular Economy for Fishing Gear,” by Christina Dixon:

“Community Based Waste Management and Recycling Enterprises” by Julie Myra Alego:

“When Day Zero is a reality for landfill disposal, and when lifestyle changes must become the norm in terms of waste minimisation” by Saliem Haider:

“Data, in Support of Institutional and Individual Behaviour Change Regarding Marine Litter,” by Fiona Preston-Whyte and Dr Adil Bakir: