In Ivory Coast, Abidjan’s young people wage war on trash

In a working-class neighbourhood of Abidjan, a small group of young volunteers armed with shovels and rakes is scrubbing rubbish-clogged drains. Their message: “Our streets are not rubbish bins.”

Mickael Yao, 22, founded the NGO Clean Street a year ago after a disturbing realisation that most Ivorians throw waste in the street and think it’s normal.

“I said to myself that we have to fight against this for good health and for the…