A Comparative Policy Analysis of Plastic Waste Governance and The Construction-Sector Recognition Gap in Five Sub-Saharan African Countries

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa generates a rapidly growing share of global plastic waste, and over the past three years several of its largest economies have introduced ambitious bans, levies, and extended producer responsibility (EPR) regimes to address it. Yet a critical question remains under-examined: do these regulatory frameworks formally recognise plastic waste as a feedstock for construction materials, or do they remain focused on packaging and single-use items at the point of disposal? This paper presents a comparative, desk-based policy analysis of plastic waste governance in five Sub-Saharan African countries — Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Rwanda, selected for their advanced but divergent regulatory trajectories. Using a structured five-dimension framework (single-use restrictions, EPR architecture, construction-sector recognition, financing instruments, and informal-sector integration), the study synthesises national policy documents, regulatory gazettes, and recent peer-reviewed and grey literature (2017–2026) to map each country's governance architecture. Findings show that all five countries have adopted upstream interventions — bans, levies, or EPR — but none has a codified building-code provision, national standard, or certification pathway for recycled-plastic construction products, even where pilot-scale evidence, notably Rwanda's sisal-reinforced plastic tiles, demonstrates technical compliance with international structural and durability standards. Financing instruments such as Ghana's SME grant scheme and South Africa's EPR fees are similarly disconnected from materials-standards development. The paper argues that this construction-sector recognition gap, rather than technical infeasibility, is the principal regulatory bottleneck constraining the transition from technically viable recycled-plastic building materials to commercially deployable ones. It proposes a phased standards-development pathway for Nigeria that draws on lessons from Rwanda's cooperative-research model and Kenya's labelling regime.