Cameroonian footballing hero Roger Milla, the
oldest goalscorer in World Cup history, is taking on an even bigger challenge
in a very different field—turning plastic waste into building materials.
The man named the best African player of the 20th century last year embarked on a quest to resolve Cameroon's massive plastic waste problem.
The man named the best African player of the 20th century last year embarked on a quest to resolve Cameroon's massive plastic waste problem.
With plastic bags and bottles routinely cast away
in the central African country, the waste clogs up rivers, litters roads and
blocks gutters.
"We launched this project to fight pollution
and create jobs for unemployed youngsters," Milla, who is now 63, told
AFP.
The problem has become so bad that in 2014 the
government banned "the making, importing, selling or distribution of
non-biodegradable plastic packaging".
But some producers resisted, and earlier this month
100 tonnes of plastic packaging were illegally produced and seized in
Cameroon's largest city Douala.
Milla, who rose to international fame in the late
eighties and early nineties for his trademark goal celebration of a dance by
the corner flag, is now creating a new band of followers.
He is forming what he hopes will be a 2,500-strong
team of youths to collect and sort plastic waste, the raw materials for his
modern alchemy.
The project is being carried out under the banner of Milla's Coeur
d'Afrique (The Heart of Africa) association for children, and its new off-shoot
focusing on the environment and sustainable development.
Raising awareness
"We have selected a first 25 youngsters and have given them
comprehensive training" so they can in turn become trainers and induct
others, said Pancrace Fegue, the association's executive secretary.
The pioneer group has already produced thousands of paving stones, used
notably for the renovation of the Cameroon handball federation's premises.
In November, Milla's association raised awareness in two Yaounde
schools, inviting students to pick up plastic waste in their areas. Within a
week the school-children had collected three tonnes of waste.
"We want the pupils and the households to understand that plastic
has a new destination," beyond the rubbish bin or the street, said Fegue.
"When we get all the recovered waste back to the warehouses, we
start sorting through it," explained Pierre Kamssouloum, the project's
technical director.
"The plastic serves as a binder and replaces cement," in the
production of concrete slabs, Fegue explains.
The plastic is melted down in a large tank placed over a wood fire.
Sand is then added to the molten plastic and the hot mixture poured into
moulds.
The process doesn't need water and the product sets and dries at room
temperature within 15 minutes, according to Kamssouloum, as opposed to the 24
hours for the normal sand and cement based product.
The new slabs are waterproof and can be used in marshy areas or even to
build septic tanks, he added.
Helping street children
Labogenie, a national laboratory tasked with testing construction
materials, said the slabs showed "encouraging results", but that
further testing was needed.
"The results we've obtained on the issue of these paving stones'
capacity to absorb water are interesting," said Paul Mallo Nkongo,
Labogenie's chief analyst.
"The idea of recycling plastic waste is beautiful (and) this
initiative would allow us to get rid of some waste material," he added.
Milla hopes the project will also help street children re-enter society.
"This project can help me cope better," said Elvis Kake, one
of the children involved.
While the environment ministry has pledged it would help by handing over
waste non-biodegradable plastic packaging, the project still faces several
obstacles before it can take off.
Vehicles to collect rubbish and funds to train the youngsters are still
needed, Feugue says.
The city has offered the group a temporary production site, but further
down the line the project will need a more permanent home.