"Plastic Waste Goes to School" is a trailblazing multi-pronged UNICEF programme that won a UNICEF Global inspire award for the innovative way it combines environmental conservation, poverty reduction, women empowerment and children’s education.

 

 

Here’s how it works: The programme improves the environment by collecting plastic waste and reduces poverty through empowering the women who collect and sell it, paying them a fair regular income that enables them to lift their families out of hardship. At the same time, the programme is making plastic waste into innovative, easy to use bricks and using them to build modern low-cost classrooms that improve children’s access to education and provide healthy learning environments.

 

 

MSC Foundation has been the programme’s sole funder since its inception in 2019, supporting the creation of Africa’s first plastic brick factory in 2020 in Cote d’Ivoire, where work has started on using these innovative recycled plastic bricks to build the first 66 of 152 classrooms, with 21 classrooms already completed.

 

 

As an MSC Cruises guest, you’ll no doubt remember reading about and supporting the programme on board. But if you want to refresh your memory, you can always watch the video here and read all about it on our website via the link below.

 

 

The MSC Foundation would once again like to thank you for everything you’ve made possible.

 

 

Thanks to the generous help of MSC Cruises guests like you over the years, we’ve been able to provide more than 10 million euros to fund UNICEF’s work around the world, saving 115,668 young lives.  Together we’ve made a difference – a big difference – and will, we hope, continue to do so in the years to come.