The Human Needs Project opened a water-bottling plant in Kibra, Kamukunji grounds earlier this year. As a contributor to plastic waste, the organization put measures to reduce plastic waste in the community by partnering with a recycling company, Mr Green Africa.
The organization, also known as Kibera Town Centre, KTC, set up a plastic collection point outside its water bottling plant. This collection point is not only for the plastics it produces; any community member can bring plastic waste from their homes.
“The goal is to make the community conscious of changing their habit of how they dispose of plastics. As a reward, they can trade the plastics for our services. We borrowed the idea from Total, where one redeems their plastics for fuel.“ Said Felix Osumo, Finance Director at Human Needs Project.
“We saw it as a nice way of taking care of our environment and it also blends well with the Human Needs Project goal of creating opportunities for the community to get out of poverty. One can use the points to take any course at our training center and learn how to start a life.” He added.
Alice Kalki, an elderly businesswoman, is among the community members who have embraced the idea of being a responsible citizen. This is not a new practice to Alice since she sells “Kiondos” made of polyethylene waste. Alice has collected close to 10kg of plastic waste for recycling.
“These plastics have helped me, I rarely use my money to buy lunch in my business. I am currently spending less and as a result, I have increased my weekly savings.” Shared Alice.
“As a bachelor, one of the things that worries me a lot is how my clothes will be washed. Since I started bringing plastics to Human Needs Project, I don’t worry how my clothes will be washed. The points I get from the plastics I use to take my clothes to their laundry.” Said Fidelis Oduor.
In the future, the organization looks forward to scaling up and creating more opportunities for community members to earn a living by exchanging plastic waste for products they can sell.
Plastics take 20 to 500 years to decompose and never fully disappear. Recycling plastics is one of the best ways to reduce plastic waste besides using biodegradable products.
