- •Segregating wastes makes sorting, recycling, reusing and reducing waste easier.
- •The Sustainable Waste Management Act 2022 calls for the segregation of non-hazardous waste into organic and non-organic types.
Image: FILE
Recyclers of waste have sent a passionate appeal to Nairobi residents to segregate waste at home saying doing so will make their work easier.
Nzambi Matee, 29, the founder of Nairobi-based Gjenge Makers—a social enterprise that tackles waste pollution—said sorting waste at house level will work for them.
“Waste should be segregated at source as this will make our work easier,” she said.
The Sustainable Waste Management Act 2022 calls for the segregation of non-hazardous waste into organic and non-organic types.
The Act disallows the mixing of household waste — like rotting food, jars and cans.
Segregating wastes makes sorting, recycling, reusing and reducing waste easier. Much less goes into landfills.
Under the new law, those who fail to segregate waste at the household level will part with a fine of Sh20,000.
Those found flouting the law may also be slapped with a six-month jail term. Or they could go to jail and pay the fine.
Under the new plan, five per cent of the waste will be incinerated, 30 per cent recycled and 60 per cent turned into manure.
Only five per cent will go to landfills.
Matee urged waste generators to segregate waste during earthbound film screening and panel discussion at Baraza media lab Westland on Thursday.
Executive produced by Orlando Bloom and directed by Farhoud Meybodi, Earthbound explores the life and achievements of Nzambi Matee, a Kenyan innovator who is tackling the plastic waste epidemic in Nairobi.
Despite all the risks, Nzambi perseveres in her pursuit of pioneering technology that transforms plastic waste into paving bricks, eventually earning worldwide recognition as a United Nations Young Champion of the Earth.
During the event, Matee was accompanied by members of her family among others.
Matee who was named a young champion of earth in 2020 runs Gjenge Makers workshop in Nairobi.
The mid 30 year-old ecopreneur has developed a prototype machine that turns discarded plastic into paving stones.
She collects waste, mainly plastic bottles, from households and institutions and up-cycles it into paving and building blocks.
During the event, Charles Oduor, who collects waste from Dandora before supplying it to Matee, was present.
Matee decried the conditions under which most waste pickers operated saying most of them do not have protective gears.
She disclosed that her work showed prospects after several attempts, which often made her without resources.
“I try to recycle as much as I can by getting a lot of plastics. However, what I will produce will be guided by research,” she said even as she revealed that her next target is to produce building blocks for houses of those in the informal settlements.
Matee, from her workshop, developed a chock-a-block with metal pipes and cogs machine that turns discarded plastic into paving stones. The machine can create 1,500 plastic pavers for schools and homeowners; they are durable and affordable.
She said the Gjenge pavers are fully certified by the Kenyan Bureau of Standards. They have a melting point over 350°C and are much stronger than their concrete equivalents.
Matee studied material science and worked as an engineer in the oil industry. She was inspired to launch her business after routinely coming across plastic bags strewn on Nairobi’s streets.
In 2017, she quit her job as a data analyst and set up a small lab in her mother’s backyard. There, she began creating and testing pavers, a combination of plastic and sand.
Their neighbours complained about the noisy machine she was using, so Matee pleaded for one year’s grace period to develop the right ratios for her paving bricks.
"I shut down my social life for a year and put all my savings into this,” she said.
"My friends were worried."
Oduor is among those supplying the waste they collect at Dandora dumpsite to Matee who was among seven world winners of the 2020 UN Young Champions of the Earth prize.
According to UN-Habitat, waste pickers are among the poorest in society and face extremely hazardous conditions while working in dumpsites.