Nana Darkoa Seidu

Ghanaian environmental lawyer leading Africa's fight against plastic pollution through innovative legal frameworks

Nana Darkoa Seidu is a visionary environmental lawyer and founder of WasteAid Africa, an organization pioneering legal solutions to combat plastic pollution in West Africa. Born in Accra in 1985, she earned her law degree from the University of Ghana before specializing in environmental law at Harvard in 2014. Her groundbreaking work began in 2020 with the creation of Ghana's first Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework, requiring manufacturers to take responsibility for plastic waste from their products.

In 2022, she successfully lobbied for Ghana's Plastic Waste Management Act, which banned single-use plastics nationwide and established Africa's first plastic credit trading system. This innovative policy has inspired similar laws in Nigeria and Ivory Coast. Seidu's 2023 report "Plastic Credits: A New Economy for West Africa" has become a blueprint for circular economy initiatives across the continent.

Her most impactful achievement came in 2024 when her legal team secured a landmark $500 million settlement from multinational corporations for environmental damage in Ghana's coastal regions. This historic ruling set precedents for holding corporations accountable for plastic pollution under international law. Seidu also leads the Africa Circular Economy Initiative, which has diverted over 200,000 tons of plastic waste from oceans since 2021.

In 2025, she was featured in the Netflix documentary "Plastic Warriors of West Africa", highlighting her community-based recycling programs that employ over 10,000 women in Ghana's informal sector. Her TEDxAccra talk "How Africa Can Win the Plastic War" has become required viewing in environmental policy courses worldwide. Seidu's work is detailed in the 2025 book Battling Blue Gold: The Fight Against Plastic in Africa, which explores her legal strategies and community partnerships.