The decision by the Kenyan government to ban single-use plastic, especially the previously ubiquitous plastic shopping bags, put Kenya on the global map in the fight against pollution.

Ironically, plastic continues to form a big part of the garbage collected in Nairobi every day.

According to a report by the World bank, an estimated 2,400 tonnes of waste is generated in Nairobi per day, about 20 per cent of it being plastic.

The report notes that out of this, only 40 per cent is recycled, with the remainder being dumped in the overflowing landfill at Dandora or incinerated or ending up in the environment.

That Kenya continues to struggle with plastic garbage was one of the reasons TakaTaka Solutions took their business further than collecting and sorting garbage to recycling the collected plastic.

Their recycling facility is located at Ehothia in Kiambu County.

“We have been around since 2011, where we started collecting waste from low-income areas, we noticed a lot of it was organic waste, so we started with composting. But as we continued collecting the waste, we noted that a lot of it was plastic, which was not being recycled in Kenya. So, in 2019, we set up the facility here, where we can recycle a lot of plastics that were previously not being recycled,” said Brian, Head of Marketing at TakaTaka Solutions.

Sagala noted that for the organization, its key agenda is to drive social impact and environmental change.

“We have reached over 1300 waste pickers so far and we’ve also been able to recycle 95 per cent of the 90 tonnes we collect a day. So you can see in a year, how much greenhouse gases saving we’re doing,” he said.

TakaTaka Solutions has been working with Safaricom since 2017 when they signed a partnership to support the company realise its commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Apart from just collecting their waste, TakaTaka Solutions has set up waste segregation bins in the Safaricom offices which have three compartments labelled food waste, paper and plastic.

“We also provide Safaricom with data reports on their waste profile, so they’re able to make informed decisions to know if they’re moving in the right direction and to make informed decisions,” said Sagala.

Watch the video below to learn more about how TakaTaka Solutions is spearheading plastic recycling in Nairobi.