Dow and Mr. Green Africa spur Kenya’s flexible plastic circular economy with waste picker income program

26 Jan 2021 --- Dow and Mr. Green Africa (MGA) are expanding their partnership to tackle plastic waste in Kenya and advance a circular economy for flexible plastics across sub-Saharan Africa. 

The partnership launched in November 2019 during Dow’s Project Butterfly event, aiming to raise plastic pollution awareness and influence positive consumer behavior while investing in waste disposal and recycling solutions.

PackagingInsights discusses the program’s ambitions to establish circular economy principles in Kenya’s cost-dependant packaging arena with Adwoa Coleman, Dow’s Africa sustainability and advocacy manager for Packaging and Specialty Plastics and Keiran Smith, CEO and co-founder of MGA.

“The program aims to collect 167 MT of flexible plastics by September 2021, determine the exact composition of ‘flexible’ single-use plastics, experiment with a variety of processing and conversion techniques, including chemical recycling, and create a local market for flexibles,” outlines Smith.

“We strongly believe plastic is too valuable a resource to be thrown away. By taking a leadership role and collaborating with organizations like MGA, we can make significant strides in addressing the plastics challenge in Africa,” adds Coleman.

A more flexible income
A lack of waste infrastructure in Kenya has led to plastic waste ending up in rivers and informal dumps. The program incentivizes waste pickers with a higher, stable income and establishes sorting centers that pay for collected plastic.

Moreover, the partnership is creating a new market for flexible plastic waste and making sorting materials more effective in the region by enabling waste to be processed in recycling centers.The program incentivizes waste pickers with a higher, stable income.

The program estimates approximately 30 MT of flexible plastic waste is now processed through Dow and MGA waste streams every two months in Kenya.

A complex challenge
Flexible plastics are universally harder to recycle than rigid plastics like PET bottles because the material composition is more complicated.

“The focus on flexible packaging stems from the fact that currently, waste pickers focus on collecting rigid plastics, which are easier to recycle and earn them more money,” explains Coleman.

“However, we’re incentivizing waste pickers to include flexible packaging in their collections and ingraining that this material has value too.”

“This allows for more plastics to be removed from the environment while enabling the pickers to improve their quality of life by enabling an additional source of income.”

The collected flexible waste is sent to a central location where its composition is determined to understand how much is directly recyclable and what portions need to go into alternative end-uses.

“This data is extremely important for understanding the material’s waste value chain to determine appropriate interventions for ensuring it no longer ends up in the environment, dumpsites or landfill,” adds Coleman.

A recycling appetite amid COVID-19
The program’s second phase marks the introduction of a brand owner partner. The new partner will help close the loop by enabling the use of recyclable flexible plastic in packaging applications and unrecyclable portions in innovative end-uses. 

Additionally, during COVID-19, the project pivoted to using technology enabling residential collection via a new app, developed by Dow’s technical team and deployed locally by MGA.An estimated 30 MT of flexible plastic waste is processed through Dow and MGA waste streams every two months in Kenya.

Through the app, consumers can sort and separate plastic waste in their homes more effectively before scheduling it for MGA collection from their doorstep, who then process it through the plastic recycling system.

“In Kenya, there is currently no mandatory separation for waste at source. The app will be vital post-pandemic as it helps to bridge the gap on existing waste challenges pre-pandemic, such as education and awareness, separation at source and waste collection logistics,” details Coleman.

The app has successfully piloted in several Nairobian households. The partnership plans to expand the technology’s use in 2021.

Cost-dependency concerns
Coleman describes the Kenyan packaging market as “very cost-dependent,” with brands looking for the “sweet spot between ensuring their packaging has the necessary properties for its content and shelf appeal while meeting the price point for the consumer.”

In many cases, these requirements translate into packaging at the most optimum price point and size, for example, sachets enabling immediate, single-use consumption.

“In the context of a developing economy like Kenya, not many people understand the concept of circular economy yet, or the need for recycling or even that packages are custom made to guarantee a specific shelf life,” she says.

“However, what people do understand is the issue of waste in their environment, because it is so visible, and how that impacts their environment and socio-economic status.”

Kenyan government keen on EPR
The country’s plastic pollution problem is evidently on the government’s agenda, Smith notes, but how high a priority is “hard to judge.” There have been significant regulations like the ban of plastic bags in 2017. Additionally, there is “a lot of government pressure” to create a sustainable Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme.

The flexible plastic waste is sent to a central location where its composition is examined to understand how much is directly recyclable.Smith is calling on a joint strategy between the public and private sectors with binding and achievable commitments. “This will lead to more investments through opportunities in this sector. We would appreciate more companies like MGA in the future. We cannot solve this issue alone – it is a huge challenge requiring acknowledgment followed by innovative solutions, which will lead to finance.”

Building local know-how is another important pillar, Smith continues. “This is why we plan to build an MGA Academy to offer access to our knowledge to support talent for the regional plastic recycling industry.”

“We are a strong supporter of any new material or innovative recycling technologies introduced to the market. The circular economy concept will boost many new solutions based on reuse, reduce and redesign approaches.”

Sub-Saharan expansion
The MGA partnership is aligned to Dow’s global Stop The Waste sustainability target, designed to enable the collection, reuse or recycling of one million MT of plastic globally by 2030.

By 2025, Dow aims to recover at least 5,000 MT of plastic waste annually across sub-Saharan Africa, incorporate flexible packaging in the recyclable waste stream and provide it with a new life.

“We’re committed to delivering industry leadership and technical innovation in Africa, particularly around sustainability. We have a similar initiative in Lagos, Nigeria called Project ReflexNG, which is a water sachet recycling pilot program we launched last year,” describes Coleman.

“In Nigeria, about 70 percent of the population don’t have a clean drinking water supply and rely on single-use plastic sachets for their everyday needs. These lightweight plastic sachets, which Dow helps make, are essential, but recycling them is challenging.”

“Dow has therefore announced a project with Omnik, RecylePoints and the Lagos Business School Sustainability Centre to recycle around 300 million sachets, which would otherwise end up in the environment or landfill, into new applications. The program is helping to bring a shift in consumer behavior by encouraging recycling in daily routines, and we’re incredibly proud of this work,” she concludes.

By Joshua Poole