SINGLE-USE PP RECOVERY & RECYCLING, NAIROBI, KENYA

#29 - IMPROVED RECOVERY AND RECYCLING OF SINGLE USE POLYPROPYLENE (PP) CONTAINERS, A FIRST OF ITS KIND PROGRAMME IN NAIROBI, KENYA

ABOUT

rePurpose Global with Taka Taka, Kenya have completed a pilot for collection and recycling of otherwise uncollected single-use PP containers into hot-washed PP flakes, a first of its kind project in Kenya.

Taka Taka is the first organization in Kenya to install a recycling plant for single use PP, with a commitment to sell 50% of the generated flakes, through development of market linkages locally. The project created financial incentives for informal workers to recover and sell single use PP to Taka Taka, followed by recycling at their plant and sale to manufacturers of end products.

Additionality arguments:
1. Additionality (single-use PP containers): The pilot project created economic subsidies for the informal waste pickers to collect and upsell single use PP containers to Taka Taka, which were then recycled at their own plant, thereby creating additionality over the baseline. Since there is no end market for single use PP (other than the one being developed by Taka Taka), the project would not have happened without the financial subsidies to facilitate collection of this plastic type.
2. Additionality (HDPE, PP and Bopp flexibles): The proposed project for recycling HDPE, PP and Bopp flexible would be 100% additional since there is no recycling or market for end sales of these materials currently.

Barriers to scaling up the single use PP project: 25-30% of single-use trays and cups are made from PET (as opposed to PP for which the plant was originally designed). This poses a challenge because the requirements for PET recycling are significantly higher than for PP recycling, since the former is used for food grade applications, as opposed to recycled PP flakes, that are often used for non-food applications and, therefore, do not need to match the highest level of quality requirements.

Currently, Taka Taka’s flakes do not meet this quality standard. Therefore, although they are buying materials from waste pickers, yet 25-30% of the output is not sellable.

Barriers to setting/scaling up HDPE, PP and Bopp flexibles project: high cost of recycling due to transportation, washing, drying and pelletising costs.

Solutions identified: 1.Expand input of single use PP plant by incentivizing informal collection 2. Install a colour sorter to remove PET contamination 3. Expand capacity into the newly installed flexibles plant of capacity 2.5 tonnes per day and set up a larger flexibles plant of capacity 10 tonnes per day over a longer term.
The project participates in the 3R Initiative as a pilot project, with a view of seeking certification to Verra's Plastic Waste Reduction Standard.

Contact our team for more information on how to support this project

USE OF PROCEEDS

There are 3 types of specific interventions proposed for the use of proceeds that shall lead to improve the recovery and recycling rates for plastic waste at Taka Taka's facility:
1. Expand input into new built single-use PP recycling plant- Subsidize the unit price paid to waste pickers to drive increased supply. The pilot established that given the current challenges (no current collection, PET contamination), the total required subsidy across the project value chain is $0.50/kg. At a total plant capacity of 15,000 kgs, the subsidy required per month is 15,000 kgs x 26 days = 390,000 kgs monthly or $195,000 monthly
2. Expand capacity into the newly established HDPE reycling plant: As already established through the pilot project, the market for flexible packaging recycling in Kenya is either highly unreliable (HDPE, LDPE) or doesn't exist (PP, BoPP, multi-laminate). A pilot recycling plant with a daily capacity of 2.5 tons in order to crush, wash and bale flexible packaging has been newly set up, that shall produce plastic flakes with high moisture content as an end product. Monthly continuous subsidy of $0.50/kg or monthly subsidy of 2,500 kgs x 26 days = 65,000 kgs monthly -> $32,500 per month

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

rePurpose Global is a social enterprise, committed to building a global movement of conscious consumers and businesses going PlasticNeutral. rePurpose facilitates this by enabling the businesses to take responsibility for their plastic footprint by financing the scale-up of crucial infrastructure that stems the flow of ocean plastic.