Packaging materials giant Dow has extended its partnership with recycling company Mr. Green Africa to work on the plastic waste challenge in Kenya.
The partnership was officially launched in November 2019 during Dow’s Project Butterfly event in Nairobi, Kenya to raise awareness of the plastic waste issue, influence positive behavior and invest in solutions in waste disposal and recycling initiatives.
The collaboration has so far enabled Dow and Mr. Green Africa to drive positive change in communities in Kenya where a lack of waste infrastructure has led to plastic waste ending up in rivers and informal dumps, as well as creating a market for flexible plastic packaging which has enabled an additional source of income for workers in the informal waste sector.
Part of the project featured incentivising waste pickers with a higher, stable income and establishing sorting centres that allow waste pickers to bring plastic waste in for payment, and then enabling this waste to be processed in recycling centres.
Dow says the partnership has created a new market for flexible plastic waste, and also made sorting materials more effective in the region.
It is estimated that 30 Metric Tons (MT) of flexible plastic waste is now processed through Dow and Mr. Green Africa’s waste stream every two months in Kenya.
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