Ramadan Waste Crisis in Senegal: Yoff’s Overflowing Streets
Senegal Grapples with Ramadan Waste Surge in Dakar
As the sun sets each evening in Senegal, the streets and squares of Yoff transform into makeshift dumps. Plastic bags, cups, and food waste litter the ground, revealing the scale of the waste management challenge during the holy month of Ramadan.
The call to evening prayer, the Adhân, signals a flurry of activity in Yoff as people gather to break their fast. Many young, often unemployed, people offer coffee, bread with butter, or chocolate-filled pastries to those observing the fast, soliciting small coins in return. Taxi drivers, merchants, and passersby also take the opportunity to break their fast, often eating on sidewalks or in the shade of mosques. “It’s a time when everyone comes together, a moment of shared warmth,” says Mohamed Mbaye, a resident of Dagoudane. The young man, in his twenties, sets up every day around 6 p.m. At the Yoff garage, asking passersby for a small contribution to help provide food for those breaking their fast. “It’s a moment I never miss.”
Abdoulaye Sall, a mechanic, describes it as a “free *ndogou*” – a local term for a shared meal. However, just minutes after these moments of solidarity, public spaces are overtaken by mountains of trash. At Place Mamadou Diop in Yoff, the Grand-Yoff market, Independence Square, and Medina, plastic bags, cups, food packaging, and leftovers accumulate on the ground. Markets, particularly Sandaga and the Hlm areas, become hotspots where unsold goods and waste pile up before municipal workers arrive. “We do what we can with young volunteers. We collect the waste, but there is so much of it that sometimes it feels like we are fighting the sea,” explains Mamadou Diop, one of the organizers of the iftar meals in Yoff.
Taxi drivers have also observed the phenomenon. “After breaking the fast, there are people everywhere – children, vendors – and when they leave, the ground becomes a real landfill,” says Cheikh Wade, a “Yango” taxi driver for over two years. “You can see the work of the municipal workers, but it’s a huge challenge.” This situation highlights a paradox of Ramadan: a period of religious fervor and solidarity that coexists with a significant environmental challenge.
The issue of plastic waste in Senegal is a broader concern. The country generates nearly 200,000 tons of plastic waste annually, a significant portion of which originates in Dakar. This has led to an environmental crisis affecting sanitation in surrounding communities. Across sub-Saharan Africa, annual waste production has risen to 174 million tons, with 90% of it improperly managed. Only 10 to 15% of plastic waste in Senegal is currently recycled each year.
A multi-stakeholder platform, spearheaded by Haskè Conseil in partnership with the Senegalese National Society for Integrated Waste Management (SONAGED), is working to improve the waste collection system and develop a circular economy. The initiative, funded through the TAARAL program (Alliance for Advancing Recycling, Awareness and Livelihoods in Plastics), aims to unite key players in the plastic waste collection and processing industry to create both environmental and socio-economic benefits. The project seeks to create employment in the sector and improve the plastic recycling process.
The situation is particularly difficult for those who work informally at the Mbeubess landfill in Dakar, where over 1,000 young people and women earn minimal income collecting and selling waste in challenging conditions. The Senegalese government has taken steps to address the issue, including the passage of the Plastics Act in 2020, which has impacted key operators in the plastics value chain.
Despite these efforts, the surge in waste during Ramadan underscores the need for continued and intensified action to address Senegal’s waste management crisis. The daily scenes of overflowing trash serve as a stark reminder of the environmental consequences of consumption and the importance of sustainable waste management practices.