The East African country of Kenya has been at the forefront of the global war on plastic since 2017，when officials outlawed plastic bags. In June 2020，the government introduced a ban on single-use plastics in protected areas. Unfortunately, the measures failed to make a dent. Hundreds of tons of industrial and consumer plastic waste continue to end up in landfills daily.
However, if 29-year-old Nzambi Matee has her way, the unsightly plastic waste will soon be transformed into colorful bricks. The materials engineer's search for a solution to tackle plastic pollution began in 2017. She quit her job as a data analyst at a local chemical factory and set up a small lab in her mother's backyard. It took her nine months to produce the first brick and even longer to convince a partner to help her build the machinery to make the bricks. But the determined engineer was confident in her idea and did not give up.
The bricks are made using various plastic products- ranging from empty shampoo bottles to buckets to flip flops, which couldn't be recycled and reprocessed. The collected plastic is mixed with sand, heated at very high temperatures, and compressed (压缩) into bricks that vary in color and thickness. The resulting product is stronger, lighter, and about 30 percent cheaper than concrete bricks. More importantly, it helps repurpose the lowest quality of plastic. "There is that waste that couldn't be processed and recycled anymore. That is what we get," Matee says.
Matee, who was recognized as one of the Young Champions of the Earth 2020- the United Nations' highest environmental honor- is far from done. Her dream is to reduce the mountain of garbage in Donora to just a hill by increasing production and expanding her offerings. She says, “The more we recycle the plastic, the more we produce affordable housing.
