In a quiet estate in Kenol Murang’a county, we find James Muritu, an engineer, attending a digital meeting.
Donning a dust coat, Muritu ushers us into an office with a translucent roof for lighting. On the walls, are a number of awards he has scooped over the years.
Outside, a factory with heaps of plastics, sits at the corner of the compound.
Displaying an award he won last year from Kenya Bureau of Standards for the most innovative idea, the soft spoken man says he has a thing for providing solutions to challenges.
The idea to produce fuel from plastics was birthed by the plastic waste menace, he says.
Muritu, who has Master’s degree in software and hardware engineering, researched for years on how he could recycle plastics. Amid his research, fuel prices started soaring, sparking his interest.
“I’m a solutions oriented person. When I spot a challenge, what strikes me first id finding a solution. I tried many things and fuel was probably my tenth idea,” he told the Star.
Muritu registered the Progreen Inovations Limited Company in 2023 after which he acquired a piece of land near Kenol town.
He then built a custom-made processing plant that successfully recycled heavy plastics into a diesel fuel blend.
The product went through rigorous tests to prove that it could efficiently work with machines including motor vehicles before it was certified by government agencies.
With more trials, Muritu was able to incorporate light plastics that include cement bags, nylons and other plastic waste.
He then installed a scrubbing system, an air pollution control device that removes contaminants from a gas stream, ensuring minimal emissions into the atmosphere and further conserving the environment.
“If you visit my factory, you won’t know that anything is going on because it’s quiet and there’s no smoke,” Muritu says.
But for the plant to work, the innovator had to employ locals to help in collection of wastes from Kenol town and its environs.
He currently has seven full time employees who help process the plastics and 15 full time waste collectors on casual basis.
Once the plastics are delivered to the plant, they are sorted and the light ones separated from the heavy ones.
Muritu also approached local manufacturing plants that previously struggled to dispose of the plastic waste to allow him to pick it for recycling.
To cut his cost of production, he made briquettes from organic waste collected from local fruits processing plants, which he uses as a source of energy.
“We use a by-product of the fuel production process to bind organic avocado waste and produce durable briquettes that provide heat for the factory,” he said.
Muritu then entered a deal with a leading manufacturing company that buys the 4,000 litres of diesel.
The deal entered into six months ago proved that the diesel lasts longer and is more efficient than the conventional diesel.
Tests conducted by KEBS also confirmed that it contains less sulfur, which is known to corrode and degrade machines over time.
The engineer said the venture was capital intensive as it involved establishing a factory, a waste collection infrastructure, sorting and regulatory approvals.
“It has been a difficult journey due to the many certifications needed before we could officially start trading the diesel last year. But the county and national governments have been very supportive,” he said, noting that his target is not motor-vehicles but all forms of machines.
“The deal with the manufacturer has, however, validated our efforts because it has proven that our product is a high quality and now we’re encouraged to continue producing more,” he said.
Whatever profits he makes, Muritu ploughs it back into the plant to streamline and expand operations.
Two months ago, he travelled to China on a benchmarking trip with foreign engineers to find ways of enhancing his plant’s activities.
Muritu, who initially lived and studied in Australia, the US and UK, worked as an engineer before travelling back into the country in 2012.
“Chemical engineering for me is self-taught but I believe my exposure in my work abroad made it a bit easier,” he said.
Recently, the company has also started producing petrol blend that is still undergoing tests and approvals and will also target boda boda riders and machines.
Muritu expressed optimism that the product will have been fully certified by the end of the month after which it will hit the market, saying that he’s currently producing about 1,000 litres of the blend per month.
“We are currently piloting with boda boda operators at Kagundu-ini village in Kandara subcounty, where we have about 80 operators and power saw users, who use it and give us feed-back,” he said.
His plan is to expand his production from the current 4,000 litres of diesel per month to about 50,000 litres.
The engineer also plans to expand briquettes production from the current one tonne per day to about 50 tonnes per week, which will see him recycle about 70 per cent of the organic waste produced in Kenol town.
This will enable the company to sell the briquettes to local processing plants using firewood in their furnaces.
Murang’a county has 10 tea factories that use firewood to process tea before it is transported to Mombasa for sale through auction, adversely affecting climate change.
“With 50 tonnes per month, we will be able to supply to all the 10 factories and reduce deforestation while providing a way of utilising organic waste produced by factories,” Muritu said,
He is currently looking for partners who can help the factory to expand.
Since the company started its operations, it has helped process more than 80 tonnes of plastic waste that would have produced more than 200 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
Having partners, he said, would enable him to relocate to a bigger space and invest in a bigger machinery.
Most developing countries openly burn plastic waste, producing carbon monoxide, black carbon and methane that pollute the atmosphere.
In 2019, incineration of plastics emitted about 16 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide globally with the emissions expected to triple by 2030 if burning continues.
About 12 million tonnes of plastics end up in the ocean annually and release micro plastics that are hazardous to marine eco-systems, especially planktons that play a major role in clearing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
