23 November, 2022, Nairobi, Kenya. – The Mathare One Stop Recycling programme is an initiative aimed at promoting sustainability and economic empowerment in the Mathare community. By providing the community with the necessary skills and knowledge in plastic recycling and environmental conservation, the program aims at helping create social enterprises and income generating activities that can benefit the community in the long term.
In November 2022, UN-Habitat, Mathare Environmental Conservation Youth Group (MECYG), and Futbol Mas collaborated to organize a 3-day plastic recycling training program for selected youth in Mathare community. The aim of the program is to help Mathare youth gain skills in recycling and environmental conservation, which would lead to income-generating activities and long-term prospects for recycling projects with MECYG.
The participants were actively trained on the importance of recycling and environmental conservation. The second day of the training involved practical experience of sorting and cutting plastic into different colors, recording electricity units and weight of plastic before and after shredding. Every individual was assigned to sort, cut and wash plastic, and then they did an individual exercise of the whole process. On the last day of the recycling training, every participant walked the rest of the team through how to handle and use the shredded plastic they had washed and sorted.
The main objective of this training program was to provide a small but stable and sustainable income for households, with the immediate objectives being to develop income-generating activities, protect the environment and promote grassroots institutions. This collaboration has opened doors to opportunities for future collaboration within the groups, which is a great step towards promoting sustainability in the Mathare community.
Overall, the plastic recycling training program is a great example of how environmental conservation and economic empowerment can go hand in hand, and it has the potential to make a positive impact on the Mathare community.
