Fencing wire from old tyres

Robert Mwangi the Chairman of Ngorano Mashinani Youth Group at Chaka Trading Center in Nyeri on July 12,2016.The self help group members have set up wire mesh project.                             (PHOTO:KIBATA KIHU /STANDARD)

In 2012, Robert Mwangi was unemployed and uncertain about his future. Mwangi had no money but he had a talent in weaving. However, weaving baskets was not an option he was ready to consider. He decided to look for another way to use his talent.

“I started fixing the fence around my family’s farm and realised that weaving the wire could be a source of income,” Mwangi said.

He then went around various towns in Nyeri County, looking for wire which he could weave into a fence. That is when he stumbled upon old tyres which had been discarded.

Unexpectedly, one man’s garbage became another man’s treasure.

“I discovered that within the tyres there was wire that could be woven into a fence and I started looking for old discarded tyres for this purpose,” said Mwangi.

Many people only recycle the rubber from the tyres to make shoes but throw away the wires inside. But not Mwangi who has since turned the wires into an income-generating venture.

In order to meet demand for the fencing wire he was making, Mwangi teamed up with nine other friends to form Ngorano Mashinani Youth Group. The group now has two shops in Kieni Constituency, where they weave and sell fencing wires.

One of the shops is located in Chaka Shopping Centre in Kieni East where Mwangi spends most of his time. The group weaves up to 80 metres of fencing wire a day by hand.

“We work in shifts of two per day, and each team can weave up to 40 metres of wire in a day,” Mwangi said.

One member of each pair extracts the wire from the tires by hand while his colleague weaves it into a fence.

“Once a month we travel to Marsabit or Malindi to buy the tyres. Often, we find the tyres already stripped off the rubber. We buy each rim at Sh40,” Mwangi said. It takes 10 tires to make 40 metres of fence.

They sell 50 metres of fencing wire for Sh4,000. Their competitors, he said, sell 18 metres of fencing wire for Sh2,500.

Mwangi said most clients are large-scale farmers who need to fence their farms to prevent goats and other farm animals from entering the farms.

Mwangi said recycling old tyres helps reduce destruction on the environment. He said their vision is recycle large quantities of old tyres and offer more job opportunities for other youths.