World renown inventor Thomas Edison once said, "The value of an idea lies in the using of it," and with the shifting of industry trends, innovative ideas coupled with actions are a major influencer of successes in ordinary life scenarios.
For Mugo Macharia, the founder of Noma Green Plastics, working with plastic waste is where he found his calling. Driven by the desire to find a sustainable solution to the garbage menace ailing the city, he ventured into making construction material from plastic waste, more specifically fencing poles.
The handling of the waste in Nairobi has been a hot-button issue for decades with the main dumpsite in Dandora holding over 1.8 million tonnes of solid waste against a capacity of 500,000 tonnes with a daily load of 100 trucks from various parts of the city.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, the young entrepreneur explained that his venture was aimed at addressing the unmanageable levels of waste as well as making a livelihood for himself and his employees.
Situated in Kikuyu, Macharia noted that even though he had been in business for a couple of months he had incubated the idea in a local think tank for two years and had received a warm reception in construction works.
"I have six people employed to collect the plastic from various landfills in Nairobi and the bags are later transported to the factory to be processed," he conveyed.
Since he began operations, the company has been processing an average of 25,000 Kgs per month from the dumpsites and making them into the poles.
"At the factory, I have seven workers who work to clean and process the plastic waste into poles using a machine," Macharia divulged.
A three-inch pole retails at Ksh75 per foot while a four-inch pole goes for Ksh115 per foot and has zero maintenance costs.
"The poles are beneficial in that they last longer than the wooden ones and are not susceptible to attacks by termites and they are also not prone to theft as the wooden ones," he explained.
Macharia divulged that there were plans to expand operations to serve an even larger market in the region while at the same time tackling the issue of plastic waste.
"We also aim to introduce other materials in construction i.e interlocking blocks, roofing tiles, paving blocks, floor tiles, decking and plastic lumber.
The idea that we can wake up and play our part in conserving our beautiful natural, environment keeps us going and I'd recommend for everyone taking up construction to deploy methods that will not damage the environment," he advocated.
