Plastics are fundamentally chemical-based materials and often contain complex mixtures of hazardous substances. Current evidence indicates that plastics may contain more than 16,000 different chemicals, at least 4,200 of which are considered highly hazardous.
In recognition of these realities, GAIA/BFFP Africa marked this year’s International Women’s Day with a high-level webinar on 09 March 2026, spotlighting the gender injustices associated with plastic pollution and amplifying the essential role women play in building sustainable, plastic-free communities. Recent research has also highlighted the alarming extent of microplastic contamination, finding microplastics in human lungs, placental tissues, breast milk, human blood, and even in blood clots in the heart, brain, and legs.
However, women and girls experience its consequences in particularly disproportionate ways. The burden often manifests through health risks, care responsibilities, and labour conditions associated with waste management and recycling systems. At the same time, women remain at the forefront of community-driven solutions to address the plastic crisis.
Across Africa and globally, women have played a crucial role in advancing a transition toward a plastic-free future. Their leadership is especially visible in grassroots initiatives that promote zero-waste practices, including community waste collection and sorting systems, reuse models, and sustainable resource management strategies.
The International Women’s Day webinar brought together leading activists from the GAIA/BFFP Africa network for a robust dialogue focused on the intersection of gender, environmental justice, and plastic pollution. The discussions highlighted both the disproportionate impacts faced by women and the transformative leadership women continue to demonstrate in advancing environmental solutions.
Azeeza Rangunwala, Africa Coordinator of the Global Green Healthy Hospitals programme, groundWork South Africa, explains:
“The health impacts of plastics on women’s bodies are a form of slow violence; it is a slow violence in the development of cancer, it’s a slow violence of women not being believed about their symptoms, especially when it comes to sexual and reproductive health.”
Semia Gharbi, Founder & Chair of the Association of Environmental Education for Future Generations (AEEFG) & 2025 Goldman Prize Winner, stated:
“The average woman uses nine personal care products a day, containing more than 100 unique ingredients, including some that are linked to cancer and reproductive harm. If you don’t know the ingredients, don’t buy the products.”
Dalia Márquez, Co-Coordinator, UNEP Women’s Major Group (WMG) and CEO/Founder of Juventud Unida en Acción, emphasised:
“A Global Plastics Treaty that is not gender‑responsive will not be effective, and a treaty that is not rights‑based will not be just. Our task is not only to negotiate text, but it is also to protect health, dignity, and the future of our communities. Let us choose courage over convenience, science over delay, and justice over compromise. The world is watching. Future generations are counting on us.”
Boniswa Phelani: Western Cape Provincial Coordination Committee Member, South Africa Waste Pickers Association (SAWPA), underscored:
“Beyond the work we do as waste pickers, we are also women with families. Before going out to collect, sort and sell the waste, we have to ensure our children are prepared for school. We do this work so that our children and society as a whole have a better life. Even on the ground as waste pickers, our roles are gendered. Women do the collection, sorting, and bringing material closer to the truck. Women make up the majority of the informal sector, and yet we are the most marginalised.”
Tening Cissé: Partnerships Manager at adansonia.green, stressed:
“A person who menstruates uses between 8000 and 15000 menstrual products in their lifetime, generating 180 kilograms of waste. Multinational companies have dominated the market for menstruation products, and these disposable items have left us dependent on a system that fails to account for local needs, particularly in the African context. The transition to more sustainable practices, such as reuse systems, can not be done without women.”
With another round of plastics treaty negotiations potentially on the horizon, through continued collaboration, advocacy, and community leadership, GAIA/BFFP Africa remains committed to advancing solutions that protect both people and the planet while ensuring that women’s leadership remains central in the global movement toward a treaty that delivers real solutions to end plastic pollution.
ENDS
For more information, please contact:
GAIA Africa: Ibrahim Khalilulahi Usman - khalil@no-burn.org
BFFP Africa: Masego Mokgwetsi - masego@breakfreefromplastic.org
ABOUT GAIA & BFFP
GAIA: GAIA is a global network of grassroots groups, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and individuals, in over 90 countries. The organisation envisions a just, zero-waste world built on respect for ecological limits and community rights, where people are free from the burden of toxic pollution, and resources are sustainably conserved, not burned or dumped. GAIA works to catalyse a global shift towards environmental justice by strengthening grassroots social movements that advance solutions to waste and pollution. www.no-burn.org
BFFP: The #BreakFreeFromPlastic (BFFP) Movement is a global movement envisioning a future free from plastic pollution. Since its launch in 2016, more than 12,000 organisations and individual supporters from across the world have joined the #BreakFreeFromPlastic movement to demand massive reductions in single-use plastics and to push for lasting solutions to the plastic pollution crisis. www.breakfreefromplastic.org
