“Wasted Freetown” is an active project in an contemporary concept that aims to use film as a catalyst to ignite real projects that addresses our most pressing global challenges.

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In November 2012, we will in collaboration with local NGOs and organizations research and visualize the grave waste situation in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

The output will be a documentary that aim to trigger a social movement with a minimum of 20 000 online followers.

Together with the "social movement" campaign a concrete project proposal will be designed in collaboration with local and global waste-experts.

When the engagement target is reached we will match-make the project with a suitable CRS-investment from the waste-management industry, who will enjoy great PR-benefits and at the same time invest where it matters through a transparent system. The companies will be offered a unique chance to transfer knowhow where it is needed the most!



The implementation of the project will be a private, public partnership between global and local stakeholders, following the integrated waste management model.



After a successful project, a follow up documentary will be made to illuminate the positive local impact, empowering supporters, the local population and the investor.  

Objectives



The main objective of this pilot is to have a proof of concept and a showcase example that can be used to secure future strategic collaborations and clients.



•    Visualize and paint a genuine portrait of the Solid Waste Management situation in Freetown.

•    Raise awareness and educate on issue, invite to discussion, motivate global companies as well as the private sector to engage and help in change.

•    Research and co-create a project-proposal together with local actors that could provide a solution to the issue addressed in the documentary.
 

•    Trigger a social movement with a minimum of 20 000 online followers.

•    Match-make with global CSR-partner



Story



Freetown, Sierra Leone, was built to house a population of 200.000. Today over 1.3 million Sierra Leoneans call it home.



The eleven-year civil war/conflict has resulted in a huge amount of refugees seeking shelter here, and it is estimated, that, at it’s peak,  over 2.2 million people were sheltered here.



Once the war was over, many of the refugees had neither villages nor families to return to, so most of them stayed in Freetown, resulting in massive informal housing settlements, unemployment and poverty.

This has had a devastating effect on the already strained and outdated sanitation and waste management facilities in the capital.



Ranked as the country with one of the lowest HDI (Human Development Index) in the world and the fact, that one out of five children will never reach the age of five due to diseases caused by malnutrition, inadequate sanitation, contaminated water and a failing waste management Sierra Leone has had a long, steep and slow recovery.



Still today, with constant change of administration and very little successfull investments to cope with the overwhelming waste production, Freetown is struggling to build efficient long-term sustainable solid waste management.

The Problem



The two largest landfills in Freetown are both situated within the city border, with next to no organization nor system on how to manage the waste, the locals try to solve the problem themself by setting fire to the waste which results in extreme toxic smoke covering the capitol.



The newly burned waste is then used as fertile ground for growing vegetables, which are then sold at the local markets. One can only imagine how contaminated and poisonous these products are.



Because of the lack of housing-space one has a hard time to identify where the landfill ends and settlement starts.



The worst informal housing settlements are located at the Bay Area of central Freetown such as Kroo bay and Susan's bay. Most of the waste, that does not end up in the landfill, ends up in the bay.



Most of it washes down from the hills during the rains, clogs the sewers, creates pools of waste-water in the settlements and becomes breeding grounds for Malaria, Diharria, Cholera and Hepatitis.



During intense rains some houses get totally flooded with waste-water and since this mostly affects the poorest and unfortunate people, they don’t have any choise but to keep living their day to day life in knee-high contaminated waste-water.



The potential



The first step on a long and rocky road of recovery is to educate the general public as well as the decision makers about the dangers of mistreated waste, the diseases that follow and the actions necessary to take.



We want to implement the concept of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle into every Sierra Leonean in order to build a new awareness and attitude towards waste.

We want to give the locals the tools of knowledge and hardware to help them, help themselves.



Our long term goal is to allocate and match-make a mixture of local leaders and global investors into a successful and sustainable long term administration in order to manage the day to day business of solid waste in Freetown.