Plastic bottles: a suitable breeding ground for malaria mosquitoes

Ms. Bosomtwe, a resident of the village of Dwabor in Ghana, where Buy Food with Plastic has been active for 4 years, knows exactly how dangerous empty plastic bottles are to the environment. Mosquitoes that transmit diseases such as malaria nest in the bottles and multiply quickly in the village. Water collects in the discarded plastic bottles, in which the mosquitoes can lay their eggs in an ideally protected environment. This makes plastic bottles breeding grounds for mosquitoes. In addition to the residents of Dwabor, Ghana, several studies have also made similar observations (Fobil, 2000; Yintii et al., 2014).

Thanks to the work of Buy Food with Plastic, the villagers can regularly hand in their plastic bottles. These bottles are then processed at the local recycling facility, so they no longer lie around uncontrolled in the area. This means there are fewer bottles on the ground, which in turn means mosquitoes have fewer breeding grounds. Ms. Bosomtwe notes that there have been fewer cases of illness in her village since then. “Fever and illness used to be common,” she says, “but now that we can hand in the bottles, we feel safer.” 

The clean streets and beaches not only improve the environment but also make life healthier for the community. In addition to sustainable and community-oriented development aid, the recycling carried out by our teams also helps to reduce the mosquito population that spreads malaria.

With a donation of CHF 5, you enable Buy Food with Plastic to recycle 50 plastic bottles from other villages in Ghana.

Sources:

The cover image consists of a photo of our partners in Ghana, to which an AI-generated image of a mosquito has been added. 

The photo of Ms. Bosomtwe was taken by our local photographer, Solomon, during our data collection at the community event in Dwabor.

Brown, C. A., Anang, Y, Okorie P. N. (2014). Role Of The Construction Industry In Promoting Mosquito Breeding In And Around The Accra Metropolis, Ghana. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH,3(7), 94-100. Retrieved from Role-Of-The-Construction-Industry-In-Promoting-Mosquito-Breeding-In-And-Around-The-Accra-Metropolis-Ghana.pdf (24.01.2025).

Nutsugbodo, R. Y., Anaafo, D., Wireko-Gyebi, R. S., Wireko-Gyebi, S., Agyeman, Y. B., Afful, B. E. B., Adams, J. (2024). Wastes in the wild: types, effects, and management of plastic waste at Mole National Park, Ghana. Cogent Social Sciences, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2024.2316046