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- Sub-Saharan Africa is the third biggest plastic polluter into water
- SA ranks among Africa’s top 3 worst water pollution contributors
- In 2018, SA dumped 107,000 tonnes of plastic into water
The amount of plastic waste in Sub-Saharan Africa will quadruple by 2060. The region will be one of the world's biggest sources of plastic pollution in rivers, lakes and oceans, according to projections by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Worldwide plastic use will triple in the next 40 years. It will increase the most in developing countries in Asia and Africa.
In 2022, 175 countries voted to create a treaty to eliminate plastic pollution. Countries at the United Nations aim to finalise the treaty by next year.
In 2019, 22-million tonnes of plastic, most of it mismanaged waste, made its way into rivers and oceans.
South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria are the 3 biggest contributors to plastic pollution in Africa. In 2018, South Africa 'leaked' around 107,000 tonnes of plastic into water ecosystems, according to a study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
— 5 December, 2023Subscribe to the weekly newsletter for more charts like this
