Standalone projects

Dhaka, Bangladesh (©Shahriar Hossain)

Projects are a key part of the technical assistance on plastic waste provided by the BRS Secretariat. They have involved collaborating directly with Parties and Regional Centres to design and implement initiatives to further strengthen the TBM, ESM and prevention and minimization of plastic waste at national and/or regional level.

The components and activities of these projects can be tailored on the needs of the country and available resources. In particular:

• Legal and policy – such as a review and recommendations for existing legislation and policy on waste management; or the development of a national strategy for the ESM of plastic waste.
• Controlling the TBM of plastic waste – such as delivering trainings for competent authorities.
• National inventory of plastic waste – including data collection, validation and development of the inventory.
• Enhancing the role of women and vulnerable populations in the informal sector – involving consultation with the sector and delivery of trainings.
• Local pilot initiatives – which can focus on ensuring the ESM and prevention of plastic waste, strengthening the financial sustainability of plastic waste management, or increasing transparency and traceability of information on chemicals in plastics.

Further details can be found below, of the projects that have been implemented or are currently ongoing:

• Marine litter and microplastics: promoting the environmentally sound management of plastic waste and achieving the prevention and minimization of the generation of plastic waste (2019-2023)
• Further actions to address plastic waste under the Basel Convention (2020 – 2025)
• Strengthening knowledge and capacity to prevent and reduce releases of plastic waste in Malawi and Zimbabwe (2021 – current)
• Environmentally Sound Plastic Management, in Rwanda, Zambia, Sri Lanka, Cambodia (2022 – current)
• Building capacity for the control, management and reduction of plastic waste in Cabo Verde, Senegal, and French-speaking West Africa (2025 – current)

This project aimed to contribute to preventing and reducing marine pollution by building capacities to manage plastic waste. It placed particular emphasis on improving understanding and implementation of the Basel Convention, and on strengthening the related institutional, regulatory and technical capacities for the prevention and minimisation of plastic waste, environmentally sound management (ESM) of plastic waste, and controlling the transboundary movement (TBM) of plastic waste.

This project was funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.

Key achievements of the project include:

Component 1: Controlling the TBM of plastic waste

• Draft report on the assessment of the national legal and institutional framework, identification of gaps and recommendations to improve the regulatory framework in Ghana and Sri Lanka;
• Trainings for competent authorities and enforcement authorities on the effective control of TBM of plastic waste. Trainings in Ghana were held online on 14 May 2020; with a follow-up in-person training on the 23 June 2023. Trainings in Sri Lanka took place online from 27 September - 1 October 2021; and in-person on 12 and 13 June 2023.

Component 2: Ensuring the ESM of plastic waste

• Development of the Plastic Waste Inventory Toolkit, and national plastic inventories for Ghana and Sri Lanka;
• Workshops on ESM and plastic waste inventory took place in Jakarta for Asia-Pacific from 19 to 21 June 2019 and in Barcelona for Africa and others from 3 to 5 April 2019, co-financed by Sweden. A third workshop to build capacity of Basel and Stockholm Parties to use the inventory toolkit and develop ESM strategy took place in Montevideo for Latin American and Caribbean countries, in conjunction with a regional workshop on national reporting under the Stockholm and Basel Conventions, from 18 to 21 April 2023;
• A draft gap analysis of waste management regulations and capacities for their implementation and enforcement in Ghana and Sri Lanka.

Component 3: Tackling source

• A compilation of best practices for prevention and ESM of plastic wastes.
• Implementation of local pilot projects:
  • Production and use of reusable bags (Ghana)
  • Use of compostable packaging (Ghana)
  • Beach clean-up and citizen science survey (Ghana)
  • Use of water vending machines (Ghana)
  • Prevention of releases of microplastics in recycling facilities (Ghana)
  • Plastic-free schools (Ghana and Sri Lanka)
  • Collection and recycling of plastic waste fishing nets (Sri Lanka)
  • Prevention and ESM of plastic waste in hotels (Sri Lanka)
  • Reducing releases of microplastics (Sri Lanka)
• Global Workshop on Plastic Waste

More information on the project can be found in this factsheet.

Building upon the previous ‘Marine litter and microplastics’ project and also financed by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), the project ‘Further actions to address plastic waste under the Basel Convention’ aims to assist partner countries to improve their management of plastic waste and ultimately contribute to Sustainable Development Goal target 14.1.

The activities and outputs of the project are structured across six components:

Component 1: Small Grant Programme (SGP) 

• Implementation of the Small Grant Programme (SGP) on Plastic Waste, which supports low-cost, high impact pilot projects, implemented by Basel and Stockholm Convention Regional Centres. Projects are carried out at national and regional levels, with the full engagement of BRS convention national focal points. Across three rounds, a total of 23 projects have been selected and are now at various stages of completion.

Component 2: Promoted use of updated draft technical guidelines on the ESM of plastic waste and practical guidance on the development of inventories for plastic waste

• Implementation of pilot testing of the technical guidelines on the ESM of plastic waste, and the practical guidance on the development of inventories of plastic waste in:
  • Caribbean: Suriname, Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Lucia;
  • Eastern Europe: Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina;
  • Asia-Pacific: Mongolia, and a province of China

Component 3: Partnership on Plastic Waste

• Implementation of eight pilot projects under the Plastic Waste Partnership, specifically in:
  • Kenya: “Advancing a Non-Toxic Circular Economy: Reducing non-circular plastics and advancing circular plastic production, collection and recycling in Kenya”
  • Senegal, Benin and Mali: “Improving Information collection and exchange on plastic waste in West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) countries and inventory of obsolete pesticides and pesticide-container waste in Benin”
  • Sierra Leone: "Sierra Leone Plastic Waste Management Act Development”
  • Jordan: “Pilot testing of PET recycling in Jordan”
  • Maldives: “Awareness Campaign on Reducing Single Use Plastic”
  • Kiribati: “Promoting the environmentally sound management of plastic wastes through the strengthening of legal and non-legal measures”
  • Azerbaijan: “Developing innovative recycling solutions and promoting Environmentally Sound Management of plastic waste in Azerbaijan”
  • China: “Research on the recycling system of waste plastics buckets contaminated with hazardous waste in China”

Component 4: Support participation of countries in considerations on plastic waste under the Basel Convention

·     Providing support for participants to attend key meetings under the Basel Convention, including the twelfth meeting of the Open-ended Working Group, the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-15) and the COP-15 regional preparatory meetings to enable participation in discussions on agenda items related to plastic waste.

Component 5: Clearing house mechanism for information exchange on plastic waste

• Development of an interactive plastic waste projects beneficiaries map. This database include automatic data exchange mechanisms with UNDP, UNIDO, IUCN, the GEF and the World Bank.
• Supporting the consultation on UNEP’s Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML) Digital Platform

Component 6: Public awareness and education campaign on plastics waste

• Publication of “Drowning in Plastics”, an overview of the global challenges related to marine litter and plastic waste developed in cooperation with UNEP and GRID-Arendal
• A series of five factsheets covering topics related to plastic waste and the Basel and Stockholm conventions
• Interactive story maps “Plastic Waste and the Basel Convention” and “Plastic Waste on the Peak”
• An online course, “Plastic Waste and Basel Convention”, available in English, French and Spanish on UNCCelearn and InforMEA.

Introducing the Teachers' Manual and the Students' Workbook developed to engage both educators and students on critical topics related to plastic pollution. The books, developed under the BRS-Norad project, are divided into various sections, offering a diverse range of activities to enhance the learning experience by covering classroom activities with labs, games and investigations on plastic-related topics. Beyond the classroom, the materials provide guidance on organizing festivals to raise awareness about the impact of human activities on the marine environment, including marine litter activities.

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The project ‘Strengthening knowledge and capacity to prevent and reduce releases of plastic waste in Malawi and Zimbabwe’, financed by the Norwegian Retailers’ Environment Fund (Handelens Miljøfond) with additional funding provided by the  Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, Governments of Norway and Sweden, aims to protect human health and the environment from plastic waste by strengthening knowledge and capacity among decision makers in Malawi and Zimbabwe.

The project targets three critical intervening variables that are oftentimes at the core of the limited capacity of developing countries in tackling plastic waste:

1. The degree of awareness, knowledge and expertise among government officials and other relevant stakeholders;
2. The existence of adequate legislation, policies, strategies and institutions; and
3. The lack of strategies in key sectors to prevent and minimize the generation of plastic waste and microplastics.

To achieve this, the project activities and outputs have included:

Component 1: Baseline studies and national workshops

• Baseline, stakeholders and proposed strategies for pilot testing practices, design and processes to tackle plastic waste at source in the packaging, fisheries, textile and cosmetics sectors in Zimbabwe and Malawi
• Legal, Policy and Institutional Framework review in Zimbabwe and Malawi

Component 2: Controlling the TBM of plastic wastes

• Training for authorities, customs officers, enforcement agencies, and informal sector workers on TBM control and ESM
• National inventory of plastic waste in Zimbabwe and Malawi

Component 3: Ensuring the ESM of plastic wastes

• Development of a toolkit for plastic waste-free hospitality
• National strategy for the ESM of plastic waste in Zimbabwe and Malawi

Component 4: Tackling sources

• Implementation of local pilot projects:
  • Introduction of plastic-free hotels (Zimbabwe and Malawi)
  • Fishing gear and net collection system (Zimbabwe and Malawi)
  • Plastic-free schools initiative (Malawi)
  • Installation of water vending machines (Zimbabwe)

This project is also funded by the Norwegian Retailers’ Environment Fund (Handelens Miljøfond), expands pilot projects to new partner countries, to

improve the management of plastic waste and chemicals in plastics in the partner countries and support addressing the growing threat to human health and the environment posed by the increased generation and complexity, and TBM of hazardous wastes and other wastes including plastic waste.

Component 1: Capacity building to support the implementation of the Basel Convention Plastic Waste Amendments

• National inventory of plastic waste
• National strategy for the ESM of plastic waste
• Review of the infrastructure, legal and institutional framework for the prevention, minimization and ESM of plastic waste
• Recommendations to promote and improve the roles of women and informal sector workers in the management of plastic waste

Component 2: Pilot projects to test and replicate solutions for plastic pollution

• Implementation of local pilot projects  in different sectors, e.g. in schools and educational pilots, as well as strengthening collection and recycling centre infrastructures in Rwanda and Zambia, as well as working with the tourism industry to reduce single-use plastics.
• Implementation of local pilot projects to increase transparency and traceability of the information on chemicals in plastics

This new project funded by the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM) will empower Cabo Verde, Senegal, and Francophone West African countries to take real action against plastic pollution. By strengthening national laws, institutions, and waste management systems, the project will support countries in meeting their Basel Convention obligations. The project’s impact will stretch across governments, businesses, communities, and the informal sector, driving lasting change in how plastic is produced, used, and disposed of.

Building on tools developed with Norwegian support, the project also benefits from strong local backing, including in-kind contributions from the governments of Cabo Verde and Senegal and active involvement from private and civil society partners - from running collection systems to the production of awareness- raising materials.

On the ground, this project will roll out a powerful package of actions across Cabo Verde and Senegal, combining bold pilot initiatives with vital national reforms to deliver lasting change.

• In Cabo Verde, the project will promote greener, plastic-free practices in the hotel industry by cutting plastic waste through smart, sustainable alternatives - such as the installation of microplastic filters and the operationalization of small-scale collection systems - making tourism greener and more future-ready. It will also bring together civil society organizations into a strong national network driving community-based recycling, local plastic-free alternatives, and small-scale waste collection systems.
• In Senegal, new systems will be set up to collect and recycle discarded fishing nets and plastic sachets— transforming plastic waste into income opportunities and jobs. Local recycling-based livelihoods will be strengthened, giving communities the tools to clean up their environment and grow their economy.