Welcome to this week's edition of Eco Africa

Welcome to this week's edition of Eco Africa where we bring you a host of clever ideas for a greener planet!

We start out in Burkina Faso where huge tracts of land have been given over to shea butter production. These monocultures don't suit migrating birds and they are staying away. Now NGOs are working to bring the ecosystem back into balance to bring back the birds.

After that we look into a report that people could be ingesting the equivalent of a credit card worth of plastic a week. These microplastics often enter our food chain through drinking water and shellfish. The findings will shock you.

In South Africa we see how a local conservation group has designed a vacuum to assist with the removal of plastic and microplastics from the country's beaches. For the group, the EnviroBuggy is now another tool to help keep things clean.

Then we visit with Cape Verdean inventor and environmentalist Carlos Silva. He wants to help protect the environment by producing cosmetic products free of perfumes and artificial preservatives.

Finally, we head to a sustainable nature conservation area in Kenya where training, free hospital care and a microcredit program are on offer to local communities. The Lewa Conservancy believes conservation should be used to improve the lives of people who live near wildlife not just tourists from far away.

 Check out the show and let us know what you think at ecoafrica@dw.com.