Plastic Recycling Initiative

The Plastic Recycling Initiative is a waste management and women’s livelihood development project launched in Mogadishu in 2025.¹ It represents Somalia’s first integrated urban plastic waste into a source of income, especially Internally Displaced People (IDP) communities. The project reframes plastic from nuisance to opportunity, combining a new processing plant with women-led collection network.²

Its vision is to “build a cleaner, circular Mogadishu where plastic is collected, recycled, and re-marketed” by locally led enterprises that advance women’s economic autonomy. The initiative aims to reduce plastic leakage and pollution, generate dignified livelihoods for women collectors and micro-entrepreneurs; strengthen skills in waste collection, sorting, and segregation; and align local action with Somalia’s policies on plastic waste management, especially following the single-use plastics (SUP) ban announced in June 2024.^{3 4}

To implement this vision, the initiative operates through an integrated model connecting processing, collection, and market linkages. Key components include:^{5 6}

• Processing Hub & Market Linkages: Establishment of a King Plastic processing plant and purchase agreements for collected plastics.
• Women-Led Collection Network: Creation of neighborhood collection points operated by women from IDP communities, compensated by measured weight with last-mile transport to the plant.
• Training & Safety: Delivery of training on health, safety, and segregation techniques, with conitnued technical assistance.
• Income & Micro-enterprise Support: Pathways enabling women to progress from collectors to small-scale collection center operators, with documented income gains.
• Scale & Inclusion: Integration of approximately 500 women collectors into Mogadishu’s recycling system.
• Policy & Public Awareness: Complementarity with national SUP policy and clean-up campaigns in Mogadishu.

Through these tools, the project reduces plastic pollution across streets and coastlines, supports marine and urban ecosystems, and channels waste into productive economic uses.⁷

The initiative is implemented under Save the Children’s Inclusive Resilience in Somalia (IRiS)ⁱ program in partnership with King Plastic.⁸ Primary beneficiaries are women from IDP communities, who receive training, fair payment, and opportunities to operate as micro-entrepreneurs. Other participants include local residents who contribute recyclable materials, private recyclers who ensure market stability, and media and civil-society partners who document progress and promote replication across Mogadishu.⁹

The initiative builds trust through community-based collection and predictable payments, fostering visible environment improvement within the urban circular-economy.¹⁰