Zero Waste Integrated Project in Guédé Chantier Eco-village ( Senegal, West Africa)
I) Guédé Chantier Ecovillage presentation
With a population of 7, 000 inhabitants, Guédé Chantier ecovillage is an oasis located
in Senegal River Valley, about 480 kilometers from Dakar, the Capital City. It is
situated in a depression by the Doué River and surrounded by 700 hectares of arable
land where the villagers mainly grow rice, tomatoes and different kinds of
vegetables. Guédé is two kilometers away from the National road.
In the seventies, the Chinese technical advisers settled in the village to teach the
local farmers how to grow rice and increase yields. The Chinese agricultural practices
relied on excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which had increased
rice yield but also had disastrous effects on people health, the environment and
animal life. As farmers were illiterate and did know how to handle such dangerous
products, many of them and their families got poisoned by these products they often
stored in their houses.
Before the arrival of the Chinese, the village was luxuriant, with plenty trees
(beautiful flamboyants and other trees) in the streets, chemical fertilizers and
pesticide-free family orchards. Today our ecovillage faces a major challenge: the
invasion of plastic waste from the pesticides containers and from the shops, which
degrades and disfigures our environment and also is an obstacle to the development
of local ecoutourism.
II) The project
Now some people in the community are aware of the hazards the plastic waste
brings about in the ecovillage. Unfortunately many of us aren’t. A major sensitization
campaign and a drastic change in the community’s behavior are urgently needed to
reverse the current trend. Urgent action needs to be taken at all levels within the
layers of the community:
1) The Ecovillage ’s 700 primary schoolchildren need to be sensitized and trained in
the adoption of simple and daily healthy practices such putting domestic waste into
containers( and not throwing them anywhere), selecting the wasting, producing
compost and natural manure, planting and protecting trees etc. They will become
major agents of change in their families and also in the surrounding villages through
the schools’ network.
2) Raise the whole adult population’s awareness about the dangers of plastic waste,
encourage people to refrain from using plastics and to use the old traditional
calabashes and baskets our grandparents used to take to the markets for their
shopping, to produce compost in every household, collect and use plastic waste to
start income generating activities such as the production of mats, hats, fans etc.
III) Activities
1. Sensitization and information campaigns :
The main objective of such campaigns is to inform our Ecovillage community and the
surrounding villagers about the dangers of pesticides and the proliferation of plastic
waste, the necessity to plant trees and preserve our fragile environment, the
integration of environmental studies in the school programmes :
Action plan
activities actors number resources
Inter districts talks Resource people
District and surrounding villagers 15 meetings Facilitators
Didactic and support material
Drama Village actors and actress
District and surrounding
villagers
15 sessions Sound system
And support material
3.1 Training and skill building
Objective:
The aim is to reinforce the village resource people and local teachers’ knowledge on
environmental issues, to train local volunteer in waste recycling and composting.
Action plan
activities actors numbers Resources
Resource people and teachers training
Education inspector
School directors
Teachers
Village volunteers
1O sessions
Projector
Television and video sets
Didactic material
Training Ecovillage volunteers in plastic
Recycling and transformation skills Ecovillage volunteers
Resource people
trainers
4 sessions
Facilitators
Didactic and support material
3.3 Waste selection
Objective:
Here, the aim is to systematically separate domestic biodegradable and non
biodegradable waste. This operation will be carried out both at schools and homes
Action plan
activities actors frequency Resources
Collecting and selecting waste
Creating safe dumps
School teachers
Students
Students’ parents
Ecovillagers
Every day Selective trash containers
Shovels, rakes, gloves, masks, garden forks, wheelbarrows
3.4 Composting:
Objective:
The idea is to collect biodegradable waste, bury it for some time to transform into
nutrients for plants. The compost can be then used in the field as a a natural and
safe fertilizer. In the medium and long term, the Ecovillage will produce enough
compost for its need and sell it to gardeners and farmers in surrounding villages. The
benefits will support local services like schools, medical centers etc.
Action plan:
activities actors Resources
Digging adequate holes for composting School teachers and pupils
Community volunteers Rakes shovels
Wheel barrows
Garden forks
3.5 Revaluation of plastic waste
Objective: the aim is to recycle plastic waste into arts articles, toys, fans, mats, hats
etc.
activities actors frequency resources
Collecting plastics Students
Ecovillage youth
Ecovillage resource persons Every day Rakes shovels
Wheel barrows
Garden forks
Donkey or horse carts masks
The long term aim (approximately in ten years’ time) is to bring the plastic waste in
the Ecovillage down to – 25 %, meaning that the community will import surrounding
villages’ plastic waste and transform it in Guédé and resell the finished products on
the local markets. The waste will be collected by animal -drawn carts.
The ecovillage has old buildings it would like to repair and transform into an
Environmental training center where lectures, documentary films, meetings,
exhibitions, video conferences will take place. Surrounding villagers will be welcome
to join the various activities.
The ecovillage leaders and part of the community understand the emergency to
organize a sustainable, holistic and integrated domestic waste first in Guédé Chantier
and then in the surrounding villages.