Sustainable Africa

Earth Day has come and gone, but it’s never too late to highlight programs and people working to make positive sustainable changes for the environment. I’ll also spotlight a few projects that get a green thumbs down as far as I’m concerned.  

My friend who works at AllAfrica recently alerted me to a new program in Kenya that seeks to collect and recycle plastic waste before it arrives at dump sites. Joseph Murimi reports,

The concept involves organising youths in groups and empowering them to collect plastic waste from homes and selling them to big industries for recycling. The youth will be given special machines on loan, which they will use to shred plastic bags to make it easier for handling and transportation.

It’s important to collect the plastic before it reaches the streets, so that it can be cleaned. Dirty plastic cannot be recycled. One source of plastic waste to be recycled is bags. They seem to litter almost every available surface in cities and towns across Africa, and I for one am thrilled that a plan has been developed to deal with this type of refuse. The article goes on to mention,

Kenya consumes over 24 million plastic bags monthly, according to Mr Mahesh Dodhia, the Chief Executive Officer, Hi-Plast Group of Companies.

Plastic bags are non-biodegradable and their presence in agricultural fields decreases soil productivity. Improper disposal of plastic bags have been linked to spread of malaria because they provide breeding habitats for mosquitoes and pathogens. When burned plastic bags release toxic gases such as furan and dioxin, and leave unhealthy residues that include lead and cadmium.

An added benefit of this project is that it will provide education to youth on plastic waste recycling. Green thumbs up to them!

The next project I want to spotlight is a group called Wonder Welders, based out of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The artists are adult polio survivors who use their talents to create beautiful sculptures and cards out of recycled scrap metal. Their work is phenomenal, and can be purchased at several locations around Dar. If you won’t be in that neck of the savanna any time soon, check out their website, where you can peruse their work, and contact them to place an order or commission a piece. 

Wonder Welders is an all around fantastic project with an environmentally and disability friendly focus. Their website states, 

In the last 3 years we have expanded the workshops to include a handmade recycled paper project, handmade wooden toys, natural handmade soaps and recycled glass bottle beads. We currently employ 40 people on a full-time basis as well as a further 4 in our out-sourcing satellite workshop.  The sales of the items sustain the project and pay all the members all a good salary so that they can support themselves and their families.  

Green thumbs up to Wonder Welders!

Now on to a program that I have mixed feelings about. An eco-city is being built on the outskirts of Mombasa, Kenya. Not only will the community house thousands of people, it will also be environmentally self-sustaining. Francis Ayeiko observes, 

Construction of Kenya’s first eco-city – a residential settlement that is environmentally, socially, economically and culturally self-sustaining – has commenced on the outskirts of Mombasa, with the first phase expected to be ready for occupation by the third quarter of this year.

The city will include a hospital, school, police station, and playgrounds, as well as a solar/wind power station. All of this comes at a steep price, however. A two-bedroom flat is selling for Ksh 2.25 million (USD $35,714). 

I think it’s great that land is being preserved and a sustainable community is being created. It’s just really unfortunate that few Kenyans will have the option of enjoying the benefits of such a lifestyle, due to the incredibly high costs. I give this project a tentative green thumbs up. 

The last project on my list gets a green thumbs down, despite obvious good intentions. Nokia, the Scandinavian cellphone manufacturer, has launched a phone recycling initiative in East Africa. An article on Network World reports, 

Nokia has launched a recycling initiative in East Africa that offers consumers a structured way to dispose of old mobile phones and accessories. The move comes amid fears that cast-off mobile phones are posing an increasing risk of hazardous toxic chemicals in the developing world.

That’s excellent. However, there is no incentive to get people to turn in their old phones and accessories at the designated Nokia recycling centers. I know I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to turn in an old phone, especially if I didn’t know where the center was or why I needed to recycle it.

Here in America, many states offer a redemption fee to get consumers to recycle cans and bottles. If I return my water and soda bottles, I get 5 cents for each one. It’s a very good incentive to return them. I’m embarrassed to even report this, but my family saved all of our bottles in our garage this winter, and we just returned 1,107 of them. For our trouble we got $65. It would be great if Nokia offered even a small incentive for returns. Providing people with a dollar’s worth of cellphone credits for example, might be a good idea and would also help Nokia retain customers.