Innovators from across Africa flocked to Côte d'Ivoire on World Environment Day to showcase their solutions to plastic pollution.

Gathered in an Abidjan exhibition hall, they presented a range of cutting-edge ideas, from bricks forged from recycled plastic to biodegradable alternatives to plastic packaging.

The exhibit came alongside the official opening ceremony for World Environment Day, which this year was hosted by Côte d'Ivoire.

Rose Mwebaza, Director of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Africa office, said innovation would be crucial to tackling the world’s mushrooming plastic pollution crisis.

She said Africa, in particular, must redesign waste-intense industries, like agriculture, fashion and electronics, and develop more circular economies.

Many of the entrepreneurs in Abidjan were focused on doing just that.

Côte d'Ivoire’s Recyplast uses an app to collect and recycle plastic waste. Furniture and fashion accessor maker L'Atelier Blayo  (Côte d'Ivoire) is working to wean itself off plastic and use planet-friendly vegetable-based dyes. Meanwhile, RPC Ecoplast (Democratic Republic of Congo), Ecoplast Innov,  Zelij Invent (Morocco) and The Noble Savage (Zimbabwe) are transforming waste plastic into new materials, including bricks.

As well, Kenya’s Lwanda Biotech is developing biodegradable alternatives to plastic packing for the food and beverage industry.

Finally, the International Bamboo and Rattan Organization was on hand to tout bamboo as an alternative to plastic.

Ahead of World Environment Day, Formula-E drivers from the  ABB FIA Formula E World Championship came together to clean up plastic litter from a beach in Jakarta.

The clean-up was ahead of the GulaVit Jakarta E-Prix held on 4 June.  

A virtual event will be held by USAID on 8 June to to learn what has been achieved a year into their $103m Save our Seas initiative. 

More information and registration for the event can be found here. 

On World Environment Day the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) reaffirmed its commitment to sustainability. 

As part of its Sustainability Plan and Sustainability Pledge ANOC has pledged to significantly reduce its use of plastic. 

“This year, we are going to beat plastic pollution because millions of people are demanding change,” said Inger Andersen, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director on World Environment Day, in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. “We have a choice; we can use our voice and we want to see justice.”

As World Environment Day draws to a close individuals, communities, civil society, businesses and governments around the world marked the day by focusing on the need to #BeatPlasticPollution

A full round-up of the days events can be found on the UNEP website. 

Get solutions in the Beat Plastic Pollution Practical Guide.

For World Environment Day 2023, Live Nation, the world’s leading live entertainment company, announced a first in the United States sustainability effort with the implementation of TURN Reusable Cup Systems across all Live Nation venues in Atlanta to curb single-use plastic, a key cause of plastic pollution.

The TURN system includes reusable cups, collection bins and mobile washing systems powered by technology that incentivizes fans to return their cups for rewards. A single reusable TURN cup has the potential to displace up to 100 single-use cups and can break even on its environmental impact in as few as three uses.

This announcement builds on Live Nation’s pledge to eliminate single-use plastics from its events, a key pillar in the company’s global sustainability charter, Green Nation, that is working towards zero-waste concerts.

Check out these other solutions in the Beat Plastic Pollution Practical Guide.

Read more about Live Nation's launch here.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has released an article on World Environment Day outlining four examples of how they are using the power of sport to #BeatPlasticPollution