Making Freetown a Clean Town

C-Sanitary. It stands for Community Sanitary. And it is a true start up adventure that we can’t wait to follow. Alusine Conteh and his team are riding their truck around the streets of Calaba Town in Freetown, Sierra Leone - collecting waste from households. Waste that would otherwise end up in the water streams. The dream? To see Freetown become the cleanest city in Africa.

Waste management is a huge challenge in Freetown, and illegal waste disposal is polluting the city and posing a threat to urban environments, causing environmental degradation and causing heavy flooding in the rainy season in Sierra Leone. This is what has motivated Alusine’s business, C-Sanitary. A group of young people beleive in the vision and have joined the team, which already has a marketing department that goes around the community knocking on people’s doors to get them on board. And a very committed truck driver who has decided to come on board full time. For a competitive price compared to other waste management companies around, C-Sanitary is picking up people’s household waste weekly or bi-weekly depending on needs. Because domestic waste collection in Calaba Town is not very common - and many people live in places where access to waste collection is non-existing. They also cater for local institutions.

Back in 2019, Alusine was part of Dreamtown’s Urban Space Challenge, where he participated in a number of capacity building initiatives and trainings together with YMCA Sierra Leone. Alusine also joined the Dreamtown team at the 2020 World Urban Forum after he and his group won the space making competition in the Urban Space Challenge. He says that óne thing in particular has driven him to take on the waste challenge in Freetown: What he learned about leadership along the way. By taking responsibility and motivating others to share the journey, he knows he can make a difference.

Another dream of Alusine’s is to see Sierra Leone have a university for entrepreneurs and young people with business ideas. A university where your spot is secure if you have an innovative idea that can make a difference. Because ideas are plenty! And a university where young people are supported with key business skills to help them start up and grow their ideas. Perhaps graduating with a small investment.

Alusine knows there is a long way to go. Next step for C-Sanitary is to work on getting the plastic waste seperated from the rest. And to find good ways to re-use the plastic. He is committed to changing people’s minds, and changing the culture around waste. The business is both making money and creating jobs - and at the same time making an impact in the community in the battle for a cleaner city. Also, it is not only about the business. Alusine and team are doing awareness raising and advocacy on the waste issue. They also plan on hosting social gatherings and community clean up activities to support their vision. And with Alusine’s ambition to have more than 3000 customers in two years… it can become quite the event!

Dreamtown supports youth communities that make a difference in their city. And we always want to pass on skills, knowledge, and network to the people we work with. If you know about innovative solutions for waste management in places that do not have the structures in place to sustainably handle waste - please do not hesitate to reach out so we can link Alusine and C-Sanitary with others to join forces in creating more sustainable cities!