Nairobi, Kenya – A typical day in the Nairobi neighborhood. As the sun falls on a dusty street, kids are playing and market traders are screaming for the best prices. Something catches your eye as you pass by brick houses and corner shops – piles of plastic bottles, bags and wrappers.
This was the final result of a day’s consumption, and was inadvertently thrown away. Plastic waste here is part of everyday life.
But there are people like Nzambi Matee who think before landfills when it comes to all plastic bottles that end on the streets.
For Matty, a material engineer, waste is both a problem and a solution, waiting to be discovered.
In a modest workshop hidden in the corner of the city, the pile is transformed into a sustainable brick, a stronger, lighter, and cheaper alternative by locally focused company Gjenge Makers.
Instead of being discarded, the plastic is sorted, cleaned, shredded, mixed with sand, creating solid blocks, converting waste from burden to resources.
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“Plastic waste is everywhere, it’s not going anywhere. The question is what we do with it. What you see as waste, I see it as the basis for something bigger,” Meite said.
She quit her job in the oil industry in 2017, collecting plastic waste and began experimenting in her mother’s backyard.
After months of trial and error, by 2018 she had her first prototype – mixed with brick and sand made from high density polyethylene (HDPE) and compressed under heat. It wasn’t perfect, but it was proof that her concept could work.
Today, her Nairobi workshop produces 1,800 plastic bricks a day.
Community impact
Despite the 2017 plastic ban, Kenya generates more than 400 tons of plastic waste every day, according to the National Environmental Management Agency (NEMA). Most of them end up in landfills or rivers or burn outdoors, releasing toxic smoke.
“We took a step forward in the law,” says Mamo Mamo, Ggeneral director at NEMA. “Enforcement is difficult. What Nzambi does is give us a new path and treat waste not just as a problem but as a raw material.”
Some schools build pavements using already recycled plastic bricks.
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“We are happy with this product. These bricks don’t crack,” says Francis Veto, project manager at Mukulskill Training Center last year. “They’re cheap and we help clean the environment.”
Gjenge Makers have created over 100 local jobs. Most of them are aimed at women and young people.
Maina Wambora is a former alumnus who struggled to find work until he joined Gjenge as a machine operator.
“The work is easy to manage and enjoyable. There is a high demand,” he said. “I’m so proud to know that I’m building something useful from the waste.”
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For small local contractors like Grace Wambui, this product is a welcome change. “I didn’t believe it at first,” she said, examining the bricks in the sample. “But now I recommend them. The client likes the price. I hope more suppliers have them.”
For now, Matee is focused on completing its products and reaching more communities. A timely solution in countries tackling pollution, youth unemployment and housing shortages.
