27/09/2025
The North-South Waste Scandal
Semia Labidi Gharbi helped spearhead a campaign that challenged a corrupt waste trafficking scheme between Italy and Tunisia, resulting in the return of 6,000 tons of illegally exported household waste back to Italy, its country of origin, in February 2022.
More than 40 corrupt government officials and others involved in waste trafficking in both countries were arrested in the scandal.
Her efforts spurred policy shifts within the EU, which has now tightened its procedures and regulations for waste shipments abroad.
Semia Labidi Gharbi won The Goldman Environmental Prize last June 2025
semia gharbi, 57, is a scientist and environmental educator who has devoted
her life to the intersection of science and healthy environments free of toxic chemicals.
Once focused on pesticides research in particular, she followed the natural progression to real life applications, leading her to a 20+ year career as a teacher and advocate.
In 2011, she founded - and currently chairs- the Association of Environmental Education
for Future Generations Association d'Education Environnementale pour les Futures Générations AEEFG, an NGO that partners closely with Tunisia’s Ministry of Education to spread awareness of hazardous chemicals.
Semia is the Middle East and North Africa coordinator for the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) and the co-founder of Réseau Tunisie Verte (RTV; Green Tunisia Network), a network of more than 100 environmental organizations.
"Environmental Justice: Challenging North–South Double Standards" by Semia Labidi Gharbi at Optimistic Tunisia 11 by TTU - Tunisian Talents UnitedSemia Gharb...
