CLIMATE CAPITAL
Daring To Conquer Plastic Pollution With Bricks
Nzambi Matee, personal goal is to help build more shelters to combat the housing crisis in Kenya and beyond with her green products
: Transforming Plastic Waste into Building Solutions:
Meet Nzambi Matee, Kenya’s Champion of Environmental Innovation.
:Founder of Gjenge Makers Ltd., Turns Plastic Waste into Durable Construction Bricks, Addressing Kenya’s Housing Crisis
By Charles Wachira
“ As I like saying, you have to be true to your why. Why are you doing whatever you are doing? What is the motivation behind it? For me, I was just tired of being on the sidelines of seeing plastics pollute the environment. And see where we are today. So act when you can and let the chips fall where they may,” says Nzambi Matee.
It was unmistakably her. Donning light blue overalls spotting visibly dark grease, her 5 ft 6 inches frame stood hospitable and somewhat down-to-earth in functional yellow boots. While a white beaded rosary lazily dropped on her neck, creating an indelible impression of a measured personality, if not spiritual.
And although her attendant mature girl locs gave her a tomboyish demeanor, her elocution underlined a polished elegance that betrayed a girl about town socialization.
Meet Nzambi Matee, 33, the 2020 Young Champion of the Earth winner, the UN’S highest environmental honour, given to individuals, groups and organizations that have had a transformative impact on the environment.
She’s the founder of Gjenge Makers Ltd, a Nairobi based social enterprise that addresses the prevailing issue of waste pollution in Kenya’s capital.
This former alumna of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT)eponymously named after the country’s founding President who in 1978, , donated two hundred hectares of farmland for the establishment of the college where she studied physics and material science, recycles and up cycles plastics to strong and beautiful construction materials, with bricks standing out.
In a nutshell, Gjenge Makers addresses the duo issues of plastic waste and housing crisis through its plastic brick solution. And going by its “Build Alternatively, Build Affordably” model, it seeks to provide a crucial product that could empower individual communities by giving them the resources needed to rise out of poverty.
“ It’s my personal goal to help build more shelters to combat the housing crisis with our products which we make sure are accessible to essential institutions such as schools,” says Matee.
She adds that the bricks are made from a combination of plastic and sand with the pavers having a melting point higher than 350°C which makes them more durable than their concrete counterparts.
“ They have numerous advantages when compared to the conventional ones, for example they are 30 % more durable,” says the Mukuru Slums Development Project Manager, Veto Francis, whose organization is a client.
Matee worked as a data analyst and oil-industry engineer, prior to launching her company. In 2017, she quit her job and went ahead to create a small lab in her mother’s backyard home located in the eastern parts of Nairobi, a locale that nurtures a hustling and competitive spirit among denizens, where she tested sand and plastic combinations.
There she initially began manufacturing pavers.
Her neighbours understandably griped about the noise emanating from the nascent machine she was using but resentment only emboldened her to remain on track. It took a year to develop the right ratios for her paving bricks.
Like all determined entrepreneurs while she was on the throes of beginning her new act of becoming an entrepreneur she shut down her social life and plowed her entire savings into the project.
A UNEP website explained the throes of her entrepreneurship journey by stating that “Through trial and error, she and her team learned that some plastics bind together better than others. Her project was given a boost when Matee won a scholarship to attend a social entrepreneurship-training programme in the United States of America. With her paver samples packed in her luggage, she used the material labs in the University of Colorado Boulder to further test and refine the ratios of sand to plastic.”
Her time at the U.S based university gave her time to complete two important things: Finalize the machines that make the recycled materials into pavers and also refine the plastic-to-sand ratio pro-type.
Coincidentally, her workplace is located along Nairobi’s Industrial Area, which is synonymous with Kenya’s manufacturing sector, a locale found south east of the city’s Central Business District (CBD).
The location, verifiably, has a rich history.
Mooted in 1948 by the British administration, the 9.6 Km2 piece of land is a meticulous handiwork displaying the deliberate planning of the colonialists. In fact, on close scrutiny one is able to see derelict railway lines snaking on the newly carpeted tarmacked roads, encapsulating where the 1895 built Uganda-Kenya railway once did roaring business.
Today, the place still looks bustling with synonymous armies of workers who toil in the modern day factories that have resisted the temptation of relocating to more business friendly locations. But conspicuously missing are smoke spouting factory chimneys associated with fossil oil, an auspicious tell-tell sign, this East Africa state is on track of retiring fuel-oil -fired plants by 2030.
A homogeneous black gate stands in front of the workplace. You cannot see what is happening inside until when the sentry opens.
My goodness, once you are given entrée one discovers a rectangular yard that is one to behold .As paving tiles of generic colours, green, blue, black, you name it – make the place simply a beautiful riot of shades.
“ These are the sorts of bricks that we manufacture here. Right now the company generates between 1,000 and 1,500 bricks daily. They are 35% more durable than traditional bricks, seven times stronger than the usual standard bricks and they are relatively cheaper to purchase,” says Matee.
Inside the building that has a chock a –block feel noise from operating machines overwhelm the place that noticeably has a youthful crop of workers. From what I see I can tell the company has three machines, including an extruder that does the mixing of plastic waste with sand, at very high temperatures and a press that compresses the concoction.
“Since plastic is fibrous in nature the brick ends up having a stronger compression strength,” says Matee.
“ There are about 80 of us here and you can do the math of the number of people who rely on us for employment. We also contract people to supply us with waste from packaging factories which we get for free, although we pay for the plastic that we get from other recyclers,” says Matee.
Kenya’s unemployment rate currently is 10.4 percent, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
Martin Njoroge was jobless despite holding an undergraduate degree from the local Kenyatta University until when he met Matee who offered her a job.
“Here we work in shifts, depending on the orders placed,” says Njoroge.
With some 4 million or years, inhabitants, Kenya’s capital produces around 2,400 tonnes of solid waste daily with only 45% of the waste generated undergoing any sort of recovery or treatment process. Disproportionately most of it ends up in open dumps or is burned.
From her telling, Matee was inspired to launch her business after habitually coming face to face with the scourge of plastic bags along the streets of the tenth most populated city in Africa.
“ I was seeing litter everywhere in Nairobi. It was pervasive. And while I understood that plastic waste was a global problem, I opted to do something practical and useful about the issue instead of complaining,” says Matee.
She set her mindset to singularly focus on one of the three basic needs necessary for a human being to survive including food, shelter and clothing.
“ I settled on shelter. My goal was to look at ways of converting plastic waste to assist in the provision of shelter in the housing space,” she says.
She certainly had her work cut out.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Africa has the world’s fastest urban growth rates and by 2050, its cities will be home to an additional 950 million people.
And it’s estimated that for the next 20 years 40,000 people in Africa will be relocating into its cities every day.
In fact, several recent studies project that by the end of this century, Africa will be the only continent experiencing population growth. With 13 of the world’s 20 biggest urban areas expected to be in Africa — up from just two today — as will more than a third of the world’s population.
And according to Habitat for Humanity, a global nonprofit housing organization, Kenya has an annual housing demand of 250,000 units with an estimated supply of 50,000 units, culminating in a housing deficit of 2 million units, or 80% deficit.
“ Housing affordability is a key challenge in Kenya with many people unable to afford to buy or build their own home. Only 2% of the formally constructed houses target lower-income families. About 6.4 million people, of Kenya’s urban population live in informal settlements. Many families are at high risk of diseases such as malaria, respiratory infections and or parasitic jiggers infestation,” says Habitat.
To date, Gjenge Makers has recycled more than 20 tons of plastic and officially created 112 job opportunities in the community.
“It is odd that we still have issues providing decent shelter which is a basic human need, yet plastic is a material that is misused and misunderstood for it has enormous potential,” says Matee.
So how did the thinking of an idea end up actually doing something about the thinking itself?
“We started Gjenge Makers in 2016, with a goal of reducing waste pollution in our community. We began by organizing cleanups in our community where we would sort the plastic and then resale it to recycling companies. This mode however was not creating the impact we anticipated because the rate of waste pollution was extraordinarily and exceeded what companies were buying,” says Matee.
“ After a series of research, we bumped into something fresh that involved the creating concrete using polymer. We broke down the waste plastic (HDPE & PET) at high temperature and pressure points, combined the aggregates with sand, leading us to produce our prototype and first minimum viable product (MVP) in 2017,” says Matee.
Right now, the company generates between 1,000 and 1,500 bricks per day, and Matee hopes to expand across Africa.
“ As I like saying, you have to be true to your why. Why are you doing whatever you are doing? What is the motivation behind it? For me, I was just tired of being on the sidelines of seeing plastics pollute the environment. And see where we are today. So act when you can and let the chips fall where they may,” says Matee.
.Keywords: Sustainable construction materials: Housing affordability in Kenya: Gjenge Makers Ltd:Nzambi Matee entrepreneurship journey
CLIMATE CAPITAL
African Nations Deserve Climate Funding, Not Debt, Says Economist
The United Nations Development Programme estimates Africa needs about US$2.8 trillion by 2030 for climate mitigation, despite contributing only 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. However, the continent’s urgent need is for adaptation funding, as climate change is already impacting lives. In 2022, only half of the climate finance Africa received—US$4.6 billion—was allocated to adaptation, with the rest directed towards mitigation or a mix, reflecting the global north’s priorities.
: As COP29 kicks off on November 11, African nations face increasing pressure to tackle climate adaptation, but their reliance on loans instead of grants is deepening the debt crisis.
By Prof Carols Lopes
As we approach the global annual climate change conference, COP29, the need for increased public finance from the global north to address climate adaptation in Africa has become more urgent than ever.
However, framing the finance debate solely around this need risks deepening mistrust and downplaying the scale of the challenge. The financial burden of addressing climate change, coupled with limited fiscal space, creates a precarious situation for many African countries. African countries bear no historical responsibility for causing the climate crisis. However, they rely heavily on external financing to solve climate change problems.
Unfortunately, much external climate finance comes from loans rather than grants. This only worsens Africa’s debt burden. There is also not nearly enough money being channelled to Africa to pay for climate change adaptation.
At COP29, African negotiators will undoubtedly focus on reducing dependence on debt, and improving access to finance. I’m an economist who specialises in climate change and governance, with a long background at the United Nations and the African Union. Without robust commitments from public financial institutions, Africa will continue to face the dual crises of climate vulnerability and debt.
African countries must use COP29 to tackle systemic biases that inflate risk perceptions, minimise African achievements and inflate its problems. These biases drive up borrowing costs, and worsen commodity dependence.
THE CLIMATE FINANCE GAP
The African Development Bank has estimated that Africa needs between US$1.3 trillion and US$1.6 trillion in total climate financing every year between 2020 and 2030. This will enable African countries to meet their commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, known as nationally determined contributions.
The Global Center for Adaptation estimates that Africa requires at least US$52.7 billion annually for adaptation every year until 2035. However, this figure could rise to US$106 billion. This is because data gaps allow for double counting of financial contributions. There is also very little transparency about the real amounts of climate finance being disbursed. Because nationally determined contributions are focused on mitigation, carbon depletion tends to be measured without accurate calculations of the amount of emissions that are captured, or carbon that is conserved.
The United Nations Development Programme says that Africa’s nationally determined contributions mean the continent needs about US$2.8 trillion by 2030 for climate mitigation. However, Africa contributes only 4% of all greenhouse gas emissions currently. It needs funds for adaptation to adjust to climate change that is already changing the lives of many, rather than for mitigation.
But only about half of the climate finance received by Africa in 2022 was for adaptation (US$4.6 billion). The rest of the climate finance addressed mitigation or a mix of both, in line with the global north’s agenda.
Worse still, 64.5% of adaptation financing came from loans, which need to be repaid. This will increase the financial strain on African nations.
LOANS VERSUS GRANTS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTION
Multilateral financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development through their Development Assistance Committee, handed out US$8.33 billion to Africa in 2022 for climate action. But most of this – US$5.4 billion – was loans. Only US$2.9 billion was grants, with a small fraction in equity investments.
These loans come with lower-than-market rates or extended repayment terms. But they still add to Africa’s external debt, which reached US$1.12 trillion in 2022. African countries’ debt repayments are twice what they get as climate finance.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change says developed countries are responsible for financing climate adaptation in vulnerable regions. But loans that create a huge debt burden only enrich global financial institutions at the expense of African countries.
The effects of climate change are causing unprecedented floods, drought and other disasters across Africa. Yet it is becoming more difficult for African countries to access the climate finance they need to adapt to a warming world.
Why is the situation worsening?
First, access to climate finance remains a bureaucratic nightmare with complex application processes. There also needs to be more transparency in fund allocation. The recently established Loss and Damage Fund could assist. It is meant to channel money to countries worst affected by climate change to pay for the damage caused.
Second, the focus on reforming Bretton Woods institutions and development finance institutions is shifting attention away from the obligations developed countries have signed up for. This distracts developing nations from making reforms in trade, taxation and financial regulations that could drive more meaningful results.
Third, there is a lack of liquidity (access to fresh money) needed to propel investment or allow countries to bridge their budget deficits. African countries are forced to juggle paying for healthcare, education and infrastructure development with paying back debt. Some spend more on debt repayments than healthcare.
Increased tax efficiency and domestic savings, such as the savings maintained by pension funds, could be used. This should be the priority while the fight for better international conditions continues.
Fourth, the distinction between development finance and climate finance is becoming an impediment to progress. The conversation should move away from getting African countries to prioritise greenhouse gas emission reductions at the expense of other development priorities. Climate action is under-implemented and underfunded. The focus must be on excessive dependency on aid and rather promote market incentives to encourage the private sector to invest in climate adaptation in Africa.
CLIMATE CAPITAL
Plastic-Eating Insect Species Discovered in Kenya Offers New Hope for Waste Management
Plastic pollution is severe in parts of Africa, driven by high plastic imports and limited recycling. Dr. Fathiya Khamis and her team aim to harness natural “plastic-eaters” to develop faster, more efficient waste solutions.
: Scientists have discovered mealworms in Kenya capable of digesting polystyrene plastic, potentially providing new tools for tackling global plastic pollution.
By Dr. Fathiya Mbarak Khamis
There’s been an exciting new discovery in the fight against plastic pollution: mealworm larvae that are capable of consuming polystyrene.
They join the ranks of a small group of insects that have been found to be capable of breaking the polluting plastic down, though this is the first time that an insect species native to Africa has been found to do this.
Polystyrene, commonly known as styrofoam, is a plastic material that’s widely used in food, electronic and industrial packaging.
It’s difficult to break down and therefore durable. Traditional recycling methods – like chemical and thermal processing – are expensive and can create pollutants.
This was one of the reasons we wanted to explore biological methods of managing this persistent waste.
I am part of a team of scientists from the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology who have found that the larvae of the Kenyan lesser mealworm can chew through polystyrene and host bacteria in their guts that help break down the material.
The lesser mealworm is the larval form of the Alphitobius darkling beetle. The larval period lasts between 8 and 10 weeks.
The lesser mealworms are mostly found in poultry-rearing houses which are warm and can offer a constant food supply – ideal conditions for them to grow and reproduce.
Though lesser mealworms are thought to have originated in Africa, they can be found in many countries around the world.
The species we identified in our study, however, could be a sub-species of the Alphitobius genus. We are conducting further investigation to confirm this possibility.
Our study also examined the insect’s gut bacteria. We wanted to identify the bacterial communities that may support the plastic degradation process.
Plastic pollution levels are at critically high levels in some African countries. Though plastic waste is a major environmental issue globally, Africa faces a particular challenge due to the high importation of plastic products, low reuse and a lack of recycling of these products.
By studying these natural “plastic-eaters”, we hope to create new tools that help get rid of plastic waste faster and more efficiently.
Instead of releasing a huge number of these insects into trash sites (which isn’t practical), we can use the microbes and enzymes they produce in factories, landfills and cleanup sites. This means plastic waste can be tackled in a way that’s easier to manage at a large scale.
KEY FINDINGS
We carried out a trial, lasting over a month. The larvae were fed either polystyrene alone, bran (a nutrient-dense food) alone, or a combination of polystyrene and bran.
We found that mealworms on the polystyrene-bran diet survived at higher rates than those fed on polystyrene alone.
We also found that they consumed polystyrene more efficiently than those on a polystyrene-only diet. This highlights the benefits of ensuring the insects still had a nutrient-dense diet.
While the polystyrene-only diet did support the mealworms’ survival, they didn’t have enough nutrition to make them efficient in breaking down polystyrene.
This finding reinforced the importance of a balanced diet for the insects to optimally consume and degrade plastic. The insects could be eating the polystyrene because it’s mostly made up of carbon and hydrogen, which may provide them with an energy source.
The mealworms on the polystyrene-bran diet were able to break down approximately 11.7% of the total polystyrene over the trial period.
GUT BACTERIA
The analysis of the mealworm gut revealed significant shifts in the bacterial composition depending on the diet. Understanding these shifts in bacterial composition is crucial because it reveals which microbes are actively involved in breaking down plastic. This will help us to isolate the specific bacteria and enzymes that can be harnessed for plastic degradation efforts.
The guts of polystyrene-fed larvae were found to contain higher levels of Proteobacteria and Firmicutes, bacteria that can adapt to various environments and break down a wide range of complex substances.
Bacteria such as Kluyvera, Lactococcus, Citrobacter and _Klebsiella were also particularly abundant and are known to produce enzymes capable of digesting synthetic plastics. The bacteria won’t be harmful to the insect or to the environment when used at scale.
The abundance of bacteria indicates that they play a crucial role in breaking down the plastic.
This may mean that mealworms may not naturally have the ability to eat plastic. Instead, when they start eating plastic, the bacteria in their guts might change to help break it down. Thus, the microbes in the mealworms’ stomachs can adjust to unusual diets, like plastic.
These findings support our hypothesis that the gut of certain insects can enable plastic degradation. This is likely because the bacteria in their gut can produce enzymes that break down plastic polymers.
This raises the possibility of isolating these bacteria, and the enzymes produced, to create microbial solutions that will address plastic waste on a larger scale.
WHAT’S NEXT
Certain insect species, such as yellow mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) and superworms (Zophobas morio), have already demonstrated the ability to consume plastics. They’re able to break down materials like polystyrene with the help of bacteria in their gut.
Our research is unique because it focuses on insect species native to Africa, which have not been extensively studied in the context of plastic degradation.
This regional focus is important because the insects and environmental conditions in Africa may differ from those in other parts of the world, potentially offering new insights and practical solutions for plastic pollution in African settings.
The Kenyan lesser mealworm’s ability to consume polystyrene suggests that it could play a role in natural waste reduction, especially for types of plastic that are resistant to conventional recycling methods.
Future studies could focus on isolating and identifying the specific bacterial strains involved in polystyrene degradation and examining their enzymes.
We hope to figure out if the enzymes can be produced at scale for recycling waste.
Additionally, we may explore other types of plastics to test the versatility of this insect for broader waste management applications.
Scaling up the use of the lesser mealworms for plastic degradation would also require strategies for ensuring insect health over prolonged plastic consumption, as well as evaluating the safety of resulting insect biomass for animal feeds.
CLIMATE CAPITAL
CBK Migrates Kenya’s Payment System to ISO 20022 Standard
Kenya becomes the first East African country to adopt ISO 20022 in its primary payment system, setting a benchmark for regional financial innovation and solidifying its role as a financial technology leader in East Africa.
: The Central Bank of Kenya updates KEPSS to ISO 20022, boosting faster transactions, fraud monitoring, and improved cross-border payments.
On October 14, 2024, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) made a significant leap in modernising Kenya’s financial systems by migrating the Kenya Electronic Payment and Settlement System (KEPSS) to the ISO 20022 standard.
The Role of ISO 20022 in Financial Messaging
ISO 20022 provides a universal messaging language, using XML to create a framework for various financial services. First introduced for financial institutions in 2004, this standard facilitates communication between different financial systems worldwide.
KEPSS: Kenya’s Financial Backbone
As the primary real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system, KEPSS handles Kenya’s large-value and time-sensitive payments, processing roughly $305 billion up to August 2024.
Known as the “backbone” of Kenya’s domestic and regional payment transactions, KEPSS now operates with enhanced speed and fraud monitoring capabilities, thanks to ISO 20022.
Benefits of the Migration to Kenya’s National Payments Strategy
The ISO 20022 migration is a “key component” of Kenya’s National Payments Strategy.
The CBK previously upgraded the Cheque Clearing House to this standard, and the recent KEPSS migration further advances Kenya’s payment systems, promoting financial inclusion and enabling cross-border interoperability.
Kenya’s Pioneering Move in East Africa
With this migration, Kenya is the first in East Africa to adopt ISO 20022 in its primary payment system.
By leading in this regional upgrade, the CBK sets a model for other East African countries, enhancing Kenya’s reputation as a regional hub for financial innovation.
Supporting Financial Growth and Global Integration
CBK’s implementation of ISO 20022 is crucial for Kenya’s financial goals, boosting investor appeal and reinforcing Kenya’s competitive position in a globalized economy.
This modern infrastructure also aligns Kenya with international standards, bolstering its role in East Africa’s economic development.
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