Enterprising young minds from Sakubva high density suburb came together to venture into an indigenous waste management company called Mutare Plastic Recycling Centre. It is the first of its kind in the city.
The company, chaired by Levy Jekwa, has become a central source of livelihood for the youths, who had suffered during the employment drought. “Things were difficult we didn’t have any source of income. As you know there is no employment and this initiative was a blessing for us,” said Jekwa.
He expressed his gratitude to Mercy Corps for offering training in February last year in conjunction with the Environmental Management Agency and the local authority.
The youths chose plastic recycling from the several initiatives they were trained in due to the overwhelming availability of plastics littered through-out the city centre and suburbs.
Challenges
“It was not easy because we had to wait from February until October to start operating. During this period we were collecting plastics from bus terminus, beerhalls, streets and virtually anywhere we could find it. Some of the members we trained and started with could not cope with plastic garbage collection and left,” he recalled.
As a result MPRC, which started with 60 members, ended up with a mere eight members. During the plastic garbage collection period, the youths further faced a hurdle on where to keep their stock. They had to depend on their residential areas as a safe house. They were also struggling to secure a place to operate from and machinery to use.
They first engaged the council, which only promised to allocate them land to operate from. Mercy Corps – a non-profit making organisation – finally chipped in and secured both space to operate from and machinery to use.
Recycling process
MPRC operations manager Macleod Musademba explained that they collect plastic waste including plastic bags, empty bottles, broken buckets and other plastic waste. The plastic is cleaned and processed machinery comprising a crunch, pelletiser and cutter.
The youths are not yet able to add value to the recycled plastic, so they sell it mainly as pellets or raw plastic to companies mostly in Harare, where it is used to make irrigation pipes, plastic bags, lunch boxes and other plastic products.
Profit
Jekwa said the market for recycled plastic was very big and they were currently failing to meet demand. Their plant has capacity to produce two tonnes of recycled plastic every two weeks.
So far the growing company has made three sales after opening its doors in October last year.
“We are the only company in this line of business and the future looks bright. For us the donation by Mercy Corps and assistance from EMA was a blessing because jobs are difficult to find. We can now have a source of steady income,” he said.
They also received three hand-driven scotch-carts from Mercy Corps and two others from EMA as well as four garbage storage cages from the NGO, designated in various strategic areas.
Environmental impact
EMA eastern region manager Kingstone Chitotombe hailed the work done by the youths, saying the environmentally friendly waste management initiative would go a long way in cleaning up the city.
“Environmental rights state that every citizen should have the right to clean, safe and healthy working environment. So coming up with (such) an effective waste management system will ensure our environment is kept clean,” he said.
Moreover, the initiative came at a time when the local authority has been struggling to keep the city clean. It has been unable to establish adequate garbage dumping points and a consistent refuse collection system.
Chitotombe added that EMA has also facilitated another similar initiative which links MPRC and PETRICOZIM – a fuel company. He said the recycling centre would now also be collecting PET – a type of plastic used to store fuel.
“We also seek to establish other viable markets and they said that they are facing some challenges with the existing ones. We will further link them with other development partners,” said Chitotombe.
Add value
However, MPRC appealed for more financial assistance as they want to add value to their recycled plastics. Jekwa revealed that their current machine has been facing some technical problems and proven to be costly to service considering that they further have bills to settle.
“Our main wish is to have another plant that can add value to our recycled plastic in the form of cups, lunch boxes, spoons and other products that we know are in demand. By so doing, we will be able to make more money. We also hope to be linked to other better paying and reliable markets so that we will be able to service our machine properly,” he said.
Post published in: News