Woman From Kenya Recycles Plastic Waste Into Bricks That Are Stronger Than Concrete
A 29-year-old Kenyan entrepreneur claims to have invented paving stones that are cheaper, stronger, and more lasting than concrete. She made these entirely out of trash, plastic, and sand.
Nzambi Matee is a materials science graduate who has earned a scholarship to study creative blending in the United States. She decided it was time to set up her slab-making studio in her mother’s Nairobi backyard. She claims to be able to create 1,500 of them in a single day.
Stories like this renew my faith in humanity and the future of the planet. Plastic waste=resource. Bravo @nzambimatee_ke — you’re an inspiration! #innovation #plasticwaste #recycling #upcycle #zerowaste #reuse #sustainability https://t.co/NrNIUNJEIe
— Julie Jarratt (@juliejarratt) February 8, 2021
Nzambi Matee expressed her dissatisfaction at being on the sidelines. Civil employees in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, campaigned against plastic trash. As a result of the trash, this engineer created a commodity that is 5 to 7 times stronger than concrete.
Nzambi Matee is a materials science graduate who has earned a scholarship to study creative blending in the United States. She decided it was time to set up her slab-making studio in her mother’s Nairobi backyard. She claims to be able to create 1,500 of them in a single day.
ICYMI: Kenyan entrepreneur Nzambi Matee said she didn't want to wait on the government to solve the problem of plastic waste, so she founded a factory to turn it into bricks https://t.co/sTHOMTUVCC pic.twitter.com/uQEhYfrJgg
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 6, 2021
Nzambi Matee expressed her dissatisfaction at being on the sidelines. Civil employees in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, campaigned against plastic trash. As a result of the trash, this engineer created a commodity that is 5 to 7 times stronger than concrete.
She is repurposing trash that they are unable to process or recycle. That’s what they’re incorporating into their business.
Matee pays for the plastic she gets from other recyclers and obtains the garbage from packaging manufacturers for free.
Her firm generates a large number of bricks produced from a variety of plastics each day.
The sand is combined with the plastic trash. After that, they heat it up and compress it into bricks, which are then sold at varying costs based on thickness and color. Take, for example, the most popular grey bricks, which cost 850 Kenyan shillings per square meter, or $7.70 in USD.
Matee established her firm after losing patience waiting for the government to address the issue of plastic pollution.