One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of Gambia (Millbrook Picture Books)

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Isatou started the organization, the Njau Recycling and Income Generation Group. More than 100 women participate in the organization. They gather waste and bring it to a central location to be used by everyone. Undoubtedly, Isatou’s story is unique and remarkable. It teaches us that we all have a duty and a responsibility towards our environment and that our little efforts can go a long way.

Njabe Ndaw (left) and Nyime Dibbo learn to make organic fuel briquettes at the Recycling Innovation Centre. Photograph: Louise Hunt Isatou's endeavours were recognised in 2012 when she received the Making a World of Difference Award from the International Alliance for Women. Her brainchild, the 'Women’s Initiative Gambia,' has trained over 11,000 individuals across the country on plastic hazards and waste upcycling opportunities. Her efforts earned her the title "Queen of Recycling," a moniker well-deserved. As a child, Ceesay was forced to drop out of school at a young age but that did not allow anything to stop her determination to keep growing and to keep learning from the surrounding environment and still dare to take action. I am extra excited about collecting waste and learning something new that no one else is doing. It means I am not competing with lots of others,” said Haddy Sillah, 30, a mother of five.One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia". www.publishersweekly.com . Retrieved 2019-11-01.

This is the first project to train people in reprocessing techniques across the waste streams,” explained Mike Webster, the project manager from the WasteAidUK initiative, which delivered its inaugural project with the livelihood NGO Concern Universal. “There are plenty of reprocessing projects that haven’t got off the ground because the technology is out of reach for most people. We have focused purposefully on entry-level systems that can be made locally, and the waste materials that are actually here, not a western perception of what should be recycled.“It was really important to partner with a local organisation with strong community links. This is as much about behaviour change and finding new ways of incentivising waste management. Our focus groups showed that even a tiny financial incentive can make for effective collection systems, people are really interested in learning how to make income from waste.” On YouTube there is a video of Isatou Ceesay showing how to make the purses with recycled plastic bags. This could be viewed and then the students could make their own. This would be most appropriate for Grade 4 students (or older). TIAW World of Difference 100 Award Winners 2012" (PDF). The International Alliance for Women. 2012 . Retrieved 2019-11-01. [ permanent dead link] It is women who are in charge of waste and they are dedicated to their communities, and can really contribute a lot,” said Ceesay. And Isatou didn’t stop there. She and her friends have used some of their income to fund a community vegetable garden, which raises money to send orphaned children to school. International markets

Having spent a lot of time in Senegal and a little in Gambia, I can tell you that there are lots of wonderful strong women working to empower other women. I’m not sure what the numbers are now, but for quite a long time, Senegal had significantly more women representing them in parliament that we had here! (in UK). They’ve not had a female president yet but it can’t be far away! In the U.S., most communities have trash and recycling services that help us deal with waste. But what if there were no such services? Imagine the piles of trash that would accumulate. This is exactly the situation in Gambia, Africa. But Isatou Ceesay sees solutions where others see only problems.

Just a day before our interview, Ceesay was giving a training session in a nearby village to women who had sold soap for many years. The first question she asked was how many of them had seen any profit from their endeavours. The answer: none. “We calculated their expenditure, the number of products they make and the amount of money they could get, and they were all so excited,“ she tells me. “Now they have that business model forever, and the ability to stand on their own two feet independently, with their own money and a say in how they sell their products.“ Although Ceesay's focus has thus far been on Africa, she has the wider world in her sights. “Whatever country we are in, it is so important to spread the word,“ she says. “This is a big global problem, and by connecting with similar people across the world I believe we can together make a lot of changes to help the situation we are in – the sky's the limit.“The initiative has since grown beyond plastic recycling to include other areas of recycling—such as briquette production from discarded groundnut and coconut shells and bag production from used rice bags—as well as teaching entrepreneurial skills and empowerment to women, youth and disabled groups. Today, hundreds of women, youth and disabled groups across the country are benefiting from WIG. “I think that when you abuse your environment, you abuse yourself” -Isatou Ceesay