Silifat Okoya - Africa's new generation hold key to plastic pollution

PhD student Silifat Okoya is studying how a new generation of entrepreneurs could hold the key to dealing with plastic pollution – by using waste products to power up new businesses.

She is working with universities in Nigeria to help build capacity and capabilities among university students and lecturers to support entrepreneurial activities and social enterprise, and move towards a circular plastic economy.

Through interviews, workshops and events with university students and lecturers, she is working to identify the best ways to encourage students to be part of this new economy – and share those findings with policymakers.

“It’s a win-win,” said Silifat. “The students get the training they need to deal with waste plastic and to see the opportunities and then they get the support to start their own businesses, which helps tackle another problem in Nigeria which has high youth unemployment.

“There are also the positive benefits to the environment because it will be dealing with waste plastics which at the moment are causing huge problems across Africa, and around the world.”

So far, her studies in Nigeria have focused on how to encourage students to participate in the circular plastic economy, particularly by emphasising the importance of soft power factors such as awareness and capacity building.

It suggests that targeted policies and educational efforts are needed to promote this approach to addressing plastic pollution in the global south.