Four graduates from Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS), and one Mzuzu University are using plastic, paper and discarded cardboard waste into furniture, Jewelry and decorative art.
The five, who are Martin Manyozo, Amos Benjamin, Yankho Juma, and Menia Kaputa, from (MUBAS) and Lloyd Chunga of Mzuzu University, formed Clean Cities Project, focusing on climate action, waste management and environmental sustainability.
Project Leader for Clean Cities Project Martin Manyozo, 26, who studied Business Administration (BBA) at the Malawi Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS), says through this project, the group has created employment for waste pickers, including 50 women and youths, established 10 Eco-Green Clubs in Ten schools, impacting 1,000 students with recycling skills and empowering them to create employment opportunities for others.
Manyozo, has told ProjectM that the organisation’s goal is to turn the waste that is polluting the environment into products.
Apart from mitigating environmental pollution, Clean Cities Project is also training disadvantaged students and street kids into recycling skills, so that they are economically empowered, and in the process.
He said: “The waste management problems in Malawi inspired us to venture into this enterprise. When you look at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), more than 280,000 tones of solid waste is uncollected, and sometimes it is dumped in landfills, washed into water bodies, or burned, leading to air, water and land pollution.
“This made us find a creative way of mitigating this environmental pollution by recycling this waste into sellable art and furniture.”
According to Manyozo, there is negligence of stakeholders when it comes to proper waste management, mainly in the city.
“When waste is separated at the source, it is easier for us to recycle since we can just take the waste we need. This artwork depicts the transformation from a polluted landscape to a thriving environment through innovative recycling and community action,” said Manyozo.
He, however, added through Waste to Art Enterprise, the company’s tailored future plans, include venturing into manufacturing of furniture from plastic waste for schools that lack enough chairs for students, produce notepads and pens from recycled paper waste and develop products that can be exported, just to mention a few.
“By promoting cleanliness and eco-tourism, enhances Malawi’s appeal to tourists, thereby, boosting the tourism sector. Secondly, the products that we are producing like furniture, notepads, pens, jewelry and decorative art, have the potential to bring forex into the country once we start exporting,” he added.
The company has a number of volunteers throughout the country, so that their products can be accessed by all Malawians.
Environmental Expert Goodfellow Phiri, who is also founder and Director of Environmental Industries, says according to four principles of sustainable waste management of reuse, recycle, replace, and minimise, those that are turning waste into valuable objects are on the right path to environmental conservation.
Phiri, however, expressed satisfaction with what Clean Cities Project is doing, saying what matters next is to scale up its industry.
He has emphasised the urgency of creating a sustainable future stating that “effective management is not just a responsibility. It is a pathway to safeguarding our communities and national environment for generations to come.”
Martin Manyozo and friends can be contacted on+265 994 46 24 06
