Group aims to end pollution by reusing plastic to make baskets

Regina Nzuki, a member of Mama Watoto Self Help Group in Machakos, weaves a basket from recycled plastic waste. [Philip Muasya, Standard] Inside a one-roomed house at Konza market in Machakos County, a team of women is busy, their fingers methodically weaving the baskets sitting on their laps as they engage in lively banter. Ordinarily, in this part of the country, the baskets would be made from sisal threads. But here, the women belonging to Mama Watoto Self Help Group are using plastic yarns made from waste plastics collected at Dandora dumpsite in Nairobi county. The group of about 30 women say through their venture, they are doing their best to rid the environment of plastic pollution through recycling, while at the same time eking out a living from selling the baskets. Speaking ahead of the World Environment Day to be commemorated on Monday, June 5, Claudia Mwende, who is the founder of the self-help group, says plastic pollution is a national catastrophe that needs to be addressed. "Plastic pollution is a menace in this country and we are doing our best, in our own little ways to address this problem," says Mwende, a secondary school teacher. According to estimates by the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep), more than 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced globally since the 1950s, with around 60 per cent ending up in the environment or in landfills such as the Dandora dumpsite. Globally, only nine per cent of all plastic produced is recycled, meaning that most of the total plastics produced are still around and harming the environment. The women at Mama Watoto Self Help Group buy raw materials from the dumpsite where tonnes of garbage are offloaded daily. These also include other non-biodegradable materials such as discarded films, which the women use to make colourful baskets and purses. "Before I joined the group, I did not know how to weave a basket but I am now an expert. It is a win-win situation for us and for the environment," says Priscilla Syokau, a member. To complete a sizeable basket, also known as kiondo, raw materials worth Sh60 are needed. Some of the final products can fetch up to Sh1,500 per item, while purses sell between Sh300 and Sh800 each. The women are also involved in table banking where members contribute between Sh50 and Sh100 monthly. This money is borrowed by the members to keep their kiondo business afloat, especially during lean times. "This is a venture that can turn around their lives but the market is a challenge. We have however managed to sell some of our products abroad with the help of an international connection," says Mwende. The women are now calling on Machakos county government to partner with them and make it easy for their products to sell in the markets, both local and international. To push the environmental conservation agenda, the women have toured Kitui, Nairobi, Kilifi and Busia counties to sensitise their peers on income-generating activities, especially those related to protection and conservation of the environment. Apart from the women who are involved in plastic recycling for basketry, Mama Watoto Self Help Group that started in 2012 has two other components, all with focus on conservation and greening the environment. One of them is a team of youths who manage a sizeable tree nursery from where they sell seedlings to the local community and local schools to combat desertification. On this, three youngsters; Evans Meng'oru, Francis Musyoka and Roy Kiplagat, all secondary school students have taken the lead role in running the tree nursery that boasts of fruit seedlings, indigenous trees such as the acacia variety that can withstand dry conditions. "We not only sell seedlings, but also have a duty to ensure that the trees are planted in the right way for them to grow to maturity. We routinely visit our customers to see the progress of the trees," says Musyoka. The group has teamed up with primary and secondary schools to establish 10 Eco clubs where students are taken through ecological literacy, conservation work and eradication of plastics. Pupils are also involved in performing arts to advocate for conservation. The Eco clubs which started early last year have between 50 to 70 students and they also serve as learning grounds for university students doing environmental science. Reuben Koech who is the patron of the schools Eco clubs says that the learners are taught on the collection of plastics which are then aggregated in specific places in schools and sold from there. "Similarly, we also teach the children how to produce compost manure in an effort to stop over reliance on organic fertilizers," says Koech.

Group aims to end pollution by reusing plastic to make baskets

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