In 2007, Metal Refinery (EPZ) Ltd, a lead-acid battery smelting plant, started operations in Owino Uhuru slums, an informal neighbourhood in Kenya’s coastal City of Mombasa. Operating near homes, businesses, and waterways, and without proper environmental safeguards, the company extracted lead from old car batteries through smelting. Apart from lead, the smelting process generated lead dust, toxic fumes, sludge, and wastewater. The pollutants found their way into the air, soil and water sources used by locals.

By Catherine Tembo
LILONGWE, Malawi. In the deepest corners of Lilongwe, thin plastics lie scattered across roads, markets, and waterways silent evidence of a waste crisis that refuses to fade.