In Kingtom, a crowded district near the centre of Freetown, thousands live on and around the city’s main dumpsite.
The air hangs heavy; salt from the Atlantic mixing with the acrid smoke of burning rubbish.
Beyond the patchwork of tin roofs, the ocean catches the light, its surface flecked with plastic washed down from the city’s drains.
For years, untreated waste flowed straight into those waters.
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At high tide, it returned, washing through alleyways, flooding homes, carrying disease – exacerbating the impacts of climate change. Now, on land reclaimed from the dump itself, that tide is beginning to turn.
A waste-to-energy plant was built within the city by GOAL in partnership with Freetown City Council, FCDO and supported by the Government of Ireland through Irish Aid.
Operational since 2021, it now treats over 20 per cent of the city’s liquid waste, turning a public health risk into compost, biogas and fuel.
That fuel leaves the site as small black briquettes; dense, clean-burning blocks made from treated sludge. Across Freetown, they replace charcoal, burning longer and with far less smoke.
For many families, that means fewer trees cut down, improved health, and much more cost-effective fuel.
A city of over 1.2 million people reclaims its future
Freetown was founded on the promise of freedom; built by freed slaves in the late 18th century on hills that tumble towards the Atlantic.
But Sierra Leone soon fell under British colonial rule, and the freedom its founders sought never extended to the city’s infrastructure.
For generations, waste was carried away by rain, tide or time; flowing through open drains into the same ocean that frames the city’s horizon.
The waste-to-energy plant is changing that, giving Freetown its first safe system for managing waste and protecting both its people and the sea they live beside.
It signals a shift from short-term aid to locally owned systems that endure. It is practical resilience: helping cities cope with climate shocks and rapid growth by creating infrastructure that lasts.
Many of the staff who keep the plant running once lived and worked on the dump itself.
Mark Korgay, one of the operators, spent years scavenging for scrap there. “I spent years on the Kingtom dump,” he says. “Now I help keep the city clean. It’s hard work, but there’s dignity in this. I can plan, I can save – that’s the biggest thing.”
The plant is supported by Ireland’s Civil Society Partnership (ICSP), a five-year Irish Aid initiative providing vital humanitarian and development assistance to GOAL’s work across ten countries, including Sierra Leone.
The focus of the waste-to-energy plant is practical resilience: helping cities cope with flooding, disease and rapid growth by building systems that last.
“The vision has always been for this plant to be city-owned and city-run,” says GOAL’s programmes director, Colin Lee. “Success is designing ourselves out of the picture. The goal is that the system keeps working long after we’ve stepped away.”
A blueprint for the continent
GOAL’s design is simple and adaptable; compact enough for a crowded city and energy-efficient enough to run with minimal resources.
Its success has already drawn attention from other West African cities, with delegations from Liberia and Ghana coming to see how it works.
Behind it sits a wider story of Irish collaboration. WaterShare Ireland, a partnership between Irish engineers and GOAL, helped design and commission the plant, sharing the same practical expertise that keeps Ireland’s own systems running.
Through the Sunflower Foundation, GOAL’s Blue Economy work in Sierra Leone is strengthening climate resilience by restoring mangroves and supporting fishing communities along the coast.
And last year alone, through the AIB-GOAL Mile, thousands of people at home raised more than €750,000 for projects like this one; proof that public, private and community support can combine to make something enduring.
The result is a web of connection that stretches far beyond funding. The water that laps against Freetown’s edge is the same Atlantic that meets Ireland’s western shore.
What happens there shapes here too – a shared ocean, a shared future.
For Freetown Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, the plant is “a clear demonstration of what collaborations and partnerships can achieve.”
Success isn’t measured by what we do today, but by what continues into the future. That’s real sustainability. In a city that has endured more than its fair share of challenges, the difference is visible: cleaner streets, safer homes, and public systems that are built to last - owned by Sierra Leone, backed by the people of Ireland.
For further information on GOAL Global’s work across the world, click here.
