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New Life to Plastic, Nairobi

Waste material is washed and reworked into a reusable plastic material that can be resold to plastic manufacturing companies in the area, creating a source of income for families.

04.07.2017
New Life to Plastic
© New Life to Plastic

Project name: New Life to Plastic

Project location: Kibera, Nairobi

Website: http://www.socialinnovationteams.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SocialInnovationTeams/

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Project description:

The aim is to implement the current waste management system and eradicate the problems that stem from improper waste disposal, raising awareness and sensitization of the population towards environmental issues, focusing especially on women and minority groups. Our idea Is to recycle plastic instead of recovering, as recovering is merely nothing but dumping somewhere else and creating problems there.
Therefore, the waste management system should be re-thought out both at municipal and local levels. This restructuring would provide a sound collection service that addresses the waste segregation at its source, minimization of disposing garbage, preservation of open and natural spaces through prevention of incorrect waste disposal in the streets and rivers, and dumping and end disposal in landfills.
In particular, we address this issue by introducing a chain of collection points - located in the informal settlements of Kibera - daily managed by the women's group. The waste material is washed there and reworked into a reusable plastic material that can be resold to plastic manufacturing companies in the area, creating a source of income for families that participate, positive health benefits for all within the community, and lessen the adverse environmental impact resulting from the slum. These points - referred to as “kiosks” - are receiving sites, where a target population is spurred to weekly (according to a timetable early planned) deliver plastic and undifferentiated garbage on payment (KSH/kg).

Goal and purpose of the project:

Project goal and purpose
G1 – No poverty
G2 – Good health and well-being
G3 – Gender equality
G4 – Responsible consumption and production
G5 – Climate action
G6 – Decent work and economic growth

New Life to Plastic
© New Life to Plastic

Motivation of the applicant / applicant team:

For the decades, Kibera a division of Nairobi Area, Kenya, and neighborhood of the city of Nairobi, 6.6 kilometers from the city center has been neglected from Municipality services. As a result, tons of plastic wastes were flooded all over Kibera. This has been showing worse effects on environment and degrading health conditions of inhabitants. In addition to this, poverty with average daily income of less than $1.2 and gender in equality has been prevailing. Believing in converting crisis into solution we came up with the long-term project NEW LIFE TO PLASTIC.

Use of prize money:

The prize money will help us to accelerate the project. According to our estimations, right now we can show direct influence on a range of 300-400 people directly and as one of our goals is to include as many people as we can, to influence more people, the funds will be used to establish more plastic waste collection points(Kiosks), expanding to other areas in Nairobi and to add new machinery which in turn helps to recycle more plastic. To create environmental awareness, we will carry out intense awareness campaigns.