The collaboration has so far enabled Dow and Mr. Green Africa to drive positive change in communities in Kenya where a lack of waste infrastructure has led to plastic waste ending up in rivers and informal dumps, as well as creating a market for flexible plastic packaging enabling an additional source of income for workers in the informal waste sector.
By incentivizing waste pickers with a higher, stable income and establishing sorting centers that allow waste pickers to bring plastic waste in for payment, and then enabling this waste to be processed in recycling centers, the partnership has not only created a new market for flexible plastic waste, it has made sorting materials more effective in the region. In fact, it is estimated that approximately 30 Metric Tons (MT) of flexible plastic waste - which would not have been collected previously as it is deemed harder to recycle due to it being a more complex material than rigid plastic - is now processed through Dow and Mr. Green Africa’s waste stream every 2 months in Kenya.
The second phase of the partnership marks an important advancement in ending the inequalities in recycling infrastructure in Kenya and will see Dow and Mr. Green Africa bring on a brand owner partner to close the loop by enabling the use of the recyclable flexible packaging in a packaging application and the unrecyclable portions in innovative end-uses.
