SEPSiL Commences Sensitization Campaign on Freetown City Council Solid and Liquid Waste Bylaws in Schools

On 26 November 2025, the Society on Environmental Pollution in Sierra Leone (SEPSiL) commenced a sensitization and awareness-raising campaign in two of its School Nature Clubs (SNCs) located in Allen Town, in the far east of Freetown. The initiative supports the Freetown City Council (FCC) in disseminating critical information on the enforcement of the Solid and Liquid Waste Bylaws within the Municipality.

It would be recalled that, on 28 October 2025, the FCC engaged 700 community workers as part of efforts to transform their commitment into concrete action toward improving waste management in the city. These community workers were tasked with conducting outreach activities across the Municipality to raise public awareness of the bylaws.

Despite the FCC’s ongoing community mobilization efforts, SEPSiL identified significant gaps in reaching certain underserved satellite communities. To bridge these gaps, SEPSiL decided to engage these communities directly with key messages drawn from the bylaws.

During the outreach, the team visited Grace Elizabeth Pre-school and the Sierra Leone Muslim Congress Primary School. Teachers and pupils were briefed on essential aspects of the bylaws, including proper waste management practices and the penalties for violating the regulations. Pupils and teachers were encouraged to relay the information to their families to prevent environmental sanitation offences that could result in a fine of NLe 5,000 (five thousand Leones), imprisonment for up to six months, or both.

At the end of the sessions, teachers expressed deep appreciation to SEPSiL for bringing the sensitization campaign to their schools. The Head Teacher of the Sierra Leone Muslim Congress Primary School, Madam Michaela Ngardi Demeh, noted that she had never previously received information on the bylaws and described SEPSiL’s intervention as timely and significant. A Teacher Coordinator of the SNCs at the school added that the visit complemented her recent lesson on healthy living, stating: “Your message was very clear to us, as it reinforced the content of the lesson I had with my class yesterday about healthy living.”

Several questions were raised by teachers regarding the role of communities in promoting environmental health and safety, all of which were addressed by the SEPSiL team. The engagement will continue with other schools and communities which are known to have been missed by the FCC outreach team.