Mombasa youth invest a thread making machine to tackle

By Ken Wekesa

Over 20 years the second largest city in Kenya Mombasa has be grappling with plastic waste menace which has had a negative impact on environment, marine life and Health.

Rodgers Kuria a resident of Mombasa County in Tonoka reveals that they have been living next to a big hip of plastic waste in the area forever 15 years.

“Our businesses have been affected, we have plastic waste everywhere, our children are always sick and have nowhere to play, at night there is always a stench coming from the hip of waste” said Kuria

A research by United Nations Environmental Program of 2017 indicate that 1 million plastic bottles are used every minute globally and 5 trillion unrecycled plastics are used annually.

The report further warns that if the trend continues by 2050 oceans will have more plastic than fish which poses a health risk to human beings.

Doctor Korir Langat a marine researcher at Kenya Maritime Research institute says that the Indian Ocean is already polluted by plastic waste which is clearly visible on the Kenyan beaches.

“Research shows that we are at risk of consuming micro plastics which are harmful to aquatic life as we continue to eat fish” said Dr Korir

 The current finds have motivated a group of 4 university students in Mombasa known as keeping it 3.5 to innovate and a plastic recycling plant in Mombasa that converts plastic waste into sowing thread.

The group leader Philomena Kangethe who is a second year Marine Engineering student at the university of Nairobi narrates how lack of employment among the youth in Mombasa and her desire to protect the ocean to secure a job in marine sector, lead to their innovation.

“The economy at the moment is unbearable Nobody will collect the plastic waste for free the ocean is already polluted, we decided that we should create jobs by cleaning our environment, we are bringing in plastic recycling plant that will convert all the plastic bottles are in landfills into sowing threads” narrated Kangethe

Francis Oute a 3rd year student of electrical engineering at the Technical University of Mombasa reveals that their innovation intends to create jobs to over 1000 youths in Mombasa and beyond.

With a bigger chunk of their final product benefiting the textile industry in Mombasa.

“Our main customers are the plastic waste collectors who will be bring us the raw material, we are targeting 500 plastic waste collectors from Mombasa, we will also have others at the factory” Said Oute.

He further noted that they plan to bridge the gap of importing raw material in the textile industry in Kenya.

Keeping it 3.5 intends to recycle 1 million plastic bottles annually in kenya and emulate recycling plants in China and Germany, which they believe will provide a solution to plastic pollution in the coastal city on Mombasa.

The group has been conducting their research at the Swahili pot hub in Mombasa and are looking for investors to invest in their company.

They were recently ranked the second best innovation in the eradication of plastics waste in the coastal city of Mombasa at the Plastic

A quick spot check on the busy Jomo kenyatta public beach leaves me puzzled how tidy the busy public populated beach is.

At the beach entrance I spot a group of young men from Mtopanga River conservation whom have been volunteering cleaning the Jomo Kenyatta Public beach, packing plastic waste in a waiting lorry.

Alex Buko a member of the group reveals to me that they moved to the area after receiving a training on circular economy form a nongovernmental organization hand in hand international.