
The entrepreneur has recycled 20 tonnes of plastic since 2017.
A Kenyan woman is making paving blocks, paving tiles, and manhole covers using plastic waste that cannot be recycled.
Nzambi Matee, founder of Nairobi-based Gjenge Makers, claims the construction materials made from recycled plastic are extremely strong and durable.
“Our product is almost five to seven times stronger than concrete,” Matee told Reuters.
Gjenge Makers
The materials engineer set up her factory after she got tired of waiting for the government to solve the plastic pollution problem.
Matee, who even designed her own machines, sources the plastic waste from packaging factories and other recyclers and uses it to make the construction materials.
“There is that waste they cannot process anymore; they cannot recycle. That is what we get,” she says while pointing out to sacks of plastic waste.
The plastic waste is mixed with sand, heated, and then compressed into bricks. According to Matee, the polymerase or threadlike nature of plastic binds well making the product strong and unbreakable.
Only 9% is recycled
According to Kenya’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Kenya produces 600000 tonnes of plastic bottles annually, of which 400000 tonnes are used locally and only 9% is recycled.
Matee’s factory produces 1,500 bricks each day and has recycled 20 tonnes of waste plastic since its founding in 2017.
Matee is now looking to increase the production line to make 4500 pavers a day and believes to break even by the end of this year.
Share this story: Kenyan makes paving blocks out of plastic waste.
Lifestyle
Vegan culture, food, beauty & more
Puma ditches kangaroo leather for ‘better’ vegan fabric
- Mohsina Dodhiya
- 3rd March 2023
Puma’s King soccer boots are made with vegan K-Better, a new animal-free upper material. Puma SE is officially phasing kangaroo leather out of its soccer boots this year. Instead, it will begin using a vegan fabric following rising consumer opposition to animal-made products. The German sporting goods company has redesigned its legendary KING football boot …
Continue reading “Puma ditches kangaroo leather for ‘better’ vegan fabric”
More than a third of Brits intend to reduce animal products this new year
- Mohsina Dodhiya
- 10th February 2023
Research from The Vegan Society showed that an increasing number of people are looking to reduce their consumption of meat and dairy for environmental reasons. More than one-third of Britons plan to cut back on their consumption of meat and dairy in 2023, according to a survey by the Vegan Society. The world’s oldest vegan …
Continue reading “More than a third of Brits intend to reduce animal products this new year”
VEGAN MEMES
NEED A LAUGH?
QUIZZES
All the quizzes you love to binge!
QUIZ: If you score 11/12 on this quiz, you’re a verified vegan food expert
- Marlon Farrugia
- 10th January 2020
How much vegan knowledge do you have stored away? Do you have to Google your way through a shopping trip, or do you have all the bad E-numbers memorised? Find out now with this quiz. Marlon Farrugia Marlon Farrugia is a freelance writer from Brighton. He has been a dedicated vegan for many years, and …
Continue reading “QUIZ: If you score 11/12 on this quiz, you’re a verified vegan food expert”
QUIZ: What is your perfect Vegan Halloween Costume?
- Marlon Farrugia
- 13th October 2019
Spook Season approaches. There will be ghosts, goblins, ghouls, and glucose. You need a costume, and you want to it to show off your personality, which means VEGAN. But what to choose? Take our quiz to find out your perfect outfit. Marlon Farrugia Marlon Farrugia is a freelance writer from Brighton. He has been a …
Continue reading “QUIZ: What is your perfect Vegan Halloween Costume?”
QUIZ: What kind of vegetable are you?
- Marlon Farrugia
- 26th September 2019
“If you were a vegetable, what kind would you be?” A question that has tormented humanity throughout the ages – until now. Read: QUIZ: If you score 19/20 on THIS quiz, you’re a Vegan God Marlon Farrugia Marlon Farrugia is a freelance writer from Brighton. He has been a dedicated vegan for many years, and …