Happy belated New Year from Plastiki Rafiki!After almost a year of meeting virtually, we are all finally back on campus and excited about what the future holds. Even though only a few of us were able to set foot in the lab last year there were over 30 students involved in the day-to-day running of the club and we are proud of what we managed to achieve despite the difficult situation. Much of the production has shifted from the workshop at ISK to our partner workshops, which has always been the goal. As we make plans for 2021, we wanted to share some numbers from last year…
Machines: We built 4 compression molding machines, 4 injection molding machines, 4 plastic shredders, and 3 extrusion machines which have gone to different workshops around Kenya.
Workshops: We set up two new plastic recycling workshops to add to the Futbol Más workshop and the Diani workshop. One in Mathare, in partnership with UN Habitat and IOM and the other in Wajir sponsored by the county government. In addition, we supplied machines to Ecoworld in Watamu and the Takataka Foundation in Lamu to help them give marine litter a second life.
Off-grid recycling: Following on from the charcoal powered compressor we tested last year we have successfully tested a biogas/methane powered compressor as well as two manual powered shredders to enable off-grid plastic recycling.
Product and mold design: We have designed over 50 unique products made out of recycled plastic to add to our existing collection as well as some products which we designed specifically for clients to be produced by our network members.
Clean-up initiatives: In collaboration with the Kenya Forest Service and Friends of Karura Forest we designed, built, and installed 2 bio-fences in the Ruaka River that runs through the Karura Forest.
Awards: We were the honored recipient of the AISA service award and the King Constantine Round Square Medal.
Due to the pandemic we have not been able to hold as many workshops and trainings as we have done in the past and we have also been unable to organize as many clean-up drives as we would have liked to. Having said that, we are excited to announce that we are already organizing a repeat of our Mt. Kenya clean up from 2019 and are planning to hold several training workshops in the near future to help set up 3 new recycling spaces throughout different parts of Kenya – watch this space!
Thanks so much for all your support this year – as we look forward to a healthier, greener and cleaner 2021!
*To order products from Plastiki Rafiki email us at: info@plastikirafiki.com*
