EcoAct Tanzania

Upcycles plastic waste into durable, affordable plastic timber for construction
2018 SEED Low Carbon Awards; IKI BMU
Waste Management
Dar es Salaam
Tanzania

EcoAct Tanzania processes plastic waste into durable, affordable plastic timbers for construction, using environmentally-friendly, industrial chemical-free, energy-efficient processes. It sources the plastic waste from local partners dedicated to reducing plastic pollution as well as from low-income households. Locals benefit from better waste management strategies, a lower dependence on wood, and EcoAct’s “Garbage Medical Insurance” programme, providing medical coverage in exchange for household plastic waste.

EcoAct utilizes its revenue to scale up, generating employment, creating more carbon emissions savings, and enhancing its impact on climate change mitigation. It also reduces the cost of construction, creating savings for low-income households and small and medium-sized enterprises.

Eco-Inclusive Impacts
EcoAct Tanzania offers public health education and insurance, generates employment especially for women and youth and diverts plastic waste from landfills to upcycled products.
  • Launching a micro health insurance program, “Garbage Medical Insurance” for 50 low-income households and slum dwellers in exchange for plastic waste.
  • Generating jobs, especially for youth and widowed women, with a target of 800 jobs by 2020.
  • Providing technical and entrepreneurial training that promote environmental conservation and waste management locally.
  • Removing 360t of plastic waste from landfills in just one year and processing it into plastic timbers.
  • Reducing deforestation by reducing wood dependence for construction as well as by adopting a mature red cedar tree for every 25 plastic timbers sold.
  • Mitigating climate change by creating savings of 4,500t of CO2 emissions and preventing deforestation on 650 acres of forests.

 

  • Producing durable, affordable alternatives to wood for domestic and commercial construction.
  • Creating savings among low-income households by reducing the cost of construction.
  • Stimulating economic growth by generating revenues of USD 37,500 from local sales of plastic timber in 2017.

 

Partners

EcoAct Tanzania uses environmentally-friendly, energy-efficient plastic extrusion to upcycle plastic waste into durable, affordable plastic timber for construction. The enterprise mitigates climate change not only by reducing plastic pollution, but also by reducing wood dependence and deforestation.


Mbezi recycling works with local networks to collect electronic waste and source it to EcoAct for upcycling.

 

Growth Youth Net reduces plastic pollution on beaches and in oceans. The gathered plastic waste is supplied to EcoAct for extrusion.