How this award-winning Kenyan group turns marine plastic waste into school desks, chairs to battle plastic plague

Local start-up Twende Green Ecocycle is using sustainable school furniture to address the plastic waste problem in Mombasa, Kenya. Churchill Muriuki, Lawrence Kosgei, Zainab Mahmoud, and Faraj Ramadhan founded the social venture in January 2023 to address the issue of plastic garbage along Mombasa’s shoreline and promote sustainable education.

Muriuki told Africa News, “In Mombasa alone, every day over 80 tonnes of waste is released. Out of this, 20 percent is plastic of which only 5 percent is recycled. So we have this 95 percent, which ends up in the beautiful ocean and ends up polluting the marine life.”

Made from recyclable materials, the school desks and chairs are reasonably priced and durable, unlike traditional wooden furniture that breaks easily.

Kosgei, one of the founders, shared his own experience of sitting at a broken desk in primary school, saying, “I remember when I was young, I once sat on a desk which was broken and chipped, so it is really painful to see that the same problem still exists today.”

The organization purchases plastic debris and gathers it on beaches, where it is shredded and washed before being combined with tetra pack waste and crushed under high heat to form boards. The boards are then used to make the desks and chairs.

According to Kosgei, recycling plastic garbage into school furniture creates something tangible that will benefit the community at large.

“We are able to, not only to conserve the environment but also able to promote sustainable education within Mombasa county.” 

Africa Solutions Media Hub reported that the four founders were among the 140 participants in the 2022-2023 Mombasa Plastic Prize (MPP) award competition, an initiative aimed at putting an end to Mombasa’s plastic pollution problem. They took home USD 23,333 after surpassing 57 youth entrepreneur groups engaged in environmentally friendly ventures that combat Mombasa’s marine plastic trash pollution.

Global Affairs Canada and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provided sponsorship for the Challenge Works-organized competition. During their visit to Mombasa in November, King Charles the 3rd and Queen Camila acknowledged the team for their remarkable innovation.

Students at Mvita Primary School in Mombasa were recently delighted to get their new eco-desks and chairs.

A teacher at the school, Ronald Katana, remarked, “Using traditional wooden desks, the students have to share by three, so it is cramped. However, with these eco-desks, each student is comfortable.”