KENYA: Kenyan company, EcoPost, transforms environmentally unfriendly plastic waste into fencing poles in and forges a profitable business

Record ID: 362320

  • Title: KENYA: Kenyan company, EcoPost, transforms environmentally unfriendly plastic waste into fencing poles in and forges a profitable business
  • Date: 30th July 2012
  • Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF WORKERS RECYCLING PLASTIC VARIOUS OF LORNA RUTO, DIRECTOR ECOPOST LOADING PLASTICS INTO PLASTIC CRUSHING MACHINE WORKER OPERATING PLASTIC CRUSHING MACHINE CHARLES KALAMA, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF ECOPOST SUPERVISING WORKERS WORKERS OFF LOADING CRUSHED PLASTIC (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHARLES KALAMA, ECOPOST ASSISTANT DIRECTOR S
  • Embargoed: 14th August 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Environment
  • Reuters ID: LVAAGZWAJMBE17WAVJOG403I80FZ
  • Story Text: At EcoPost recycling factory in Nairobi, Kenya's capital, workers are converting unwanted waste into fencing poles. Shredded plastic bags and bottles are fed into an extruder which melts and shapes the trash producing environmentally friendly poles.
    The company was founded two years ago by Lorna Ruto, the director of the company, and her assistant Charles Kalama, after they got fed up of seeing plastics littering open spaces and damaging the environment.
    Plastic does not rot and takes many years to disintegrate.
    Ruto and Kalama came up with a solution of getting rid of rubbish to create environmentally friendly product.
    "In terms of our recycling we withdraw in the range of about 40 metric tons of plastic every month. So far since we started we have withdrawn as much as 300,000 metric tons, that is plastic that would be currently still being in the environment, still clogging sewers, still littering streets," said Charles Kalama, EcoPost assistant director.
    Ecopost collects the waste for recycling from Dandora dumpsite, a 30 acre piece of land piled with garbage. All the waste produced by people living in Nairobiup here, about 2000 tonnes daily.
    Environmentalists say the dumpsite should be relocated, because it is emitting large amounts of lead that is sipping into the soil, contaminating the area's water supply.
    People residing around the site are also suffering from respiratory complications, the result of breathing in toxins from burnt garbage.
    Kenya still lacks comprehensive garbage management laws in order to dispose of its unwanted waste effectively.
    EcoPost makes use of only a tiny fraction of the total waste churned out, but the environmental benefit is also derived from plastic being an alternative to much needed timber. Using plastic poles will help reduce the need to cut down trees, Ruto says.
    Kenya's forests have been destroyed by people foraging for wood, leaving the country with less than 2 percent forest cover. Red cedar trees are the most sought after and as a result, the variety has become endangered.
    In 2007, laws were passed that make it illegal to cut down a cedar tree.
    "For every ten posts we make, we actually save up a fully mature cedar tree, which takes a very long time to grow. So far the number of posts we have sold we have been able to save over 6000 trees," she said.
    The giraffe center, a conservation education organization in Nairobi that runs a breeding program for the endangered Rothschild giraffe, purchased poles from Ecopost to fence their 100 hectares sanctuary two years ago. The center's manager Christine Nyangaya says wood is not a sustainable fencing material, they are now replacing termite infested wooden posts with plastic ones.
    Nyangaya adds that even if the initial cost of buying recycled poles is high, their resilience outweighs the price in the long term.
    "Giraffe center chose to use the plastic pole because of durability compared to the wooden posts, the plastic posts would last longer. Two, we also chose to use the plastic poles because they help to reuse what would otherwise have been waste and in that way save the trees which we are trying to conserve," she said.
    Thanks to high demand, EcoPost is able to create employment for twenty people working on the site. Many others make a living from selling plastic waste they collect to the company.
    "This job has helped me because I can afford to pay school fees for my children and l now live in a better area than l used to," an unidentified female worker said.
    "Since l came here my life has changed because l can now manage many things. I can rent my home, I can go any place that I want, I can live my life," said an unidentified male worker.
    Ecopole manufactures 150 poles per day, varying 6 and 10 feet in length.
    Kalama says the company is working below capacity as it relies on old equipment but new machines will soon be acquired to boost production.
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