Africa Innovates Magazine - Flipbook - Page 63
Nzambi is the UN Environment Programme’s 2021 Young Champions
of Earth prize winner. The award honors youth who dedicate their
lives to a healthier and more sustainable planet. Through her
startup, Gjenge, Nzambi turns cash into building materials. Africa
Innovates caught up with her to hear more about Gjenge’s story.
IS THERE A FINAL
MESSAGE YOU
WOULD LIKE TO
SHARE?
Let’s turn trash into cash!
I’m founder of Gjenge Makers Ltd and we
convert plastic waste into building products.
WHAT IS YOUR
SOLUTION?
As I like saying, you have to be true to your
"why." Why are you doing it? What is the
motivation behind it? For me, I was just tired
of watching on the sidelines of plastic waste.
I really jumped in, without a parachute. I was
building the solution as I was falling to earth,
but isn’t that how great things are done? So
act. For Nature!
Plastic waste is not just a Kenyan problem,
it is a worldwide problem. Here in Nairobi,
we generate about 500 metric tons of plastic
waste every single day, and only a fraction of
that is recycled. We wondered what we could
do instead of just sitting on the sidelines.
Companies have to pay to dispose of their
waste, so we developed a cost-effective
recycling solution, using their waste to
create building materials. We use corporate
factory waste, mixing it with sand, and using
the plastic as a binder.
It takes three machines – the extruder does
the mixing of plastic waste with sand at
very high temperatures. And then the press
compresses it. Plastic is fibrous in nature,
so the brick ends up having a stronger
compression strength, but is less than half
the weight. It is also faster to transport and
install.
IIMPROVED LIVELIHOODS
TURNING PLASTIC INTO BRICKS
TO BUILD A CLIMATE-SMART
HOUSING FUTURE
IN KENYA
Photo credit: UNEP
Right now, we have the capacity to produce
1,000 to 1,500 bricks a day. So far, we have
recycled 20 metric tons, and are looking to
push it to 50 by the end of the next financial
year.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Winning the Young Champions of Earth
award is a huge motivation and boost for
us as a team. It has been a long three-year
journey. So this was like someone saying “I
see what you are doing, and I appreciate it.”
With this platform, we are looking to see how
we can bring partners on board to scale up
this solution, not just in Kenya, but all over
Africa. In addition, we want to impact and
motivate more young people to do similar
things in different places. Right now, we’re
just making paving blocks, but ultimately, we
want to make actual building materials.
Photo credit: UNEP
Photo credit: intelligentliving.co
SHOWCASING AFRICAN CLIMATE CHAMPIONS
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