Women’s Initiative Gambia (WIG) began as a small, environmental enterprise. Isatou Ceesay and collaborators began recycling discarded plastic bags through crochet, taking trash and turning it into useful products, such as ladies’ bags, purses, balls, and wallets. As the endeavor grew more successful, they formed local women groups and trained the groups on processing waste plastic into long stripes which could then be woven into useful products. The women were able to sell these products, bringing in much-needed money, and at the same time helping reduce plastic waste in their community. Almost twenty years later, she one day came to notice just how ridiculed even the main streets of N’jau were plagued with high piles of trash, consisting of all forms from discarded plastics, tins, tires, house waste, and especially plastic bags, surrounded with puddles of water and malaria-infected mosquitoes[1,3]. Worst of all, the people of the village would have playgrounds, food markets and animal feeding grounds next to these piles, unaware of the harm in which they were putting themselves at risk. Because of this, animal deaths from consuming plastic plagued the village, as well as outbreaks of malaria and other diseases, dominated her village because there was no established system in place for trash disposal other than throwing it outside behind their homes[1,2]. Furthermore, because of poverty and desperation, people were starting to burn these plastic bags as fuel for warmth and cooking [1,2], and this was Ceesay’s call to action that something had to change. Using her gained knowledge of recycling and upcycling from the Peace Corps, together with her local women’s group, Ceesay brought to life the idea of reusing these plastic bags to make purses that could be sold for money. They would gather the plastic bags, dry them out and tear them into small yarn like threads called ‘plarn’ which they would weave into small hand held bags[1,2]. The process would utilize about ten plastic bags to make each of their bags[1,3], but even with this achievement societal norms were still against them for it was improper for women to be working and created ridicule was seen as improper to be digging through trash instead of doing typical household work and because they were all women, it also raised questions on their ability to execute[1]. Despite all this Ceesay remained determined and took her products to a nearby city to sell, and managed to sell out the first batch. With this, the business continued to grow and succeed and managed to create an income for the women of the village, who were now able to take care of their families and this continued growth led to the birth of the N’jau Recycling and Income Generation Group (NRIGG)[1,3]. Ceesay did not stop there however, she continued to help the women prosper by helping them manage this wealth and open bank accounts, and even went on to build a skill center in N’jau that would bring women together and help them work on broader lifestyle and professional skills[1]. Today, the center and model still continue to grow, as they have continued to turn different types of waste into different products including compost, jewelry, beads, armchairs, stools and has even expanded into selling to bigger markets including the United States[1].

Chris Seekings talks to Isatou Ceesay about recycling plastic in The Gambia, and her mission to protect the environment while driving female economic empowerment

Moreover, she spreads awareness about plastic being the worst polluters in the environment. Educating people about recycling and its effect in reducing the amount of plastic waste. Bronze: Pomelo Books * Author Jacqueline Woodson * Papa Lemon Books * Goosebottom Books * Author Gleeson Rebello * ShoutMouse Press * Author Mahvash Shahegh * China Institute.org * Live Oak Media Mongabay Kids: What was the plastic bag pollution problem like in your community before you had the idea to recycle the bags into products like purses?

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.“ 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. CREATORS: The co-creators of this unique event are Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom and Valarie Budayr from Jump Into a Book/Audrey Press. Learn more about these phenomenal ladies here.

A global target

One Plastic Bag is the story of how one woman cleans up her community, inspiring friends and neighbors to help create plastic, recycled purses, and reduce the trash in her village. The women continued with their tiny business, now also making shoulder bags and cosmetic purses from plarn. Many of them were earning money for the first time, and they were able to use it to buy food to help their families through the ‘hungry gap’ – the three months in the year when there were few crops from their farmland. Their husbands noticed how their family’s lives were improving and encouraged their wives in their purse-making. The women no longer worked in secret, and soon others joined them. Within a year, Isatou’s community recycling project had grown to 50 women and she named it the N’jau Recycling and Income Generation Group (NRIGG).