The amount of plastic waste produced globally is on track to triple to over 1,000 million tons by 2060. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report predicts that developed countries will continue to produce the most plastic waste per person, although emerging regions like Africa and Asia are expected to experience the fastest growth owing to rapid population growth and urbanization.
Plastic pollution is already a menace, said to be altering environments and endangering lives, but there is a glimmer of hope as the share of recycled plastic is expected to nearly double over the same period to 17% as plastic going through waste management systems increases.
Kidus Asfaw is Co-founder & CEO of Kubik, an environmental tech company that converts hard-to-recycle plastic waste into low-carbon, low-cost buildings.
Kubik’s mission is to build dignity through clean and affordable living for all – a vision that gave Kidus the honour of being named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential Climate Leaders.
By 2030, 300 million families will need a dignified place to live in. The team at Kubik are doing something about it.
This upcycling start-up has operations in Kenya and Ethiopia and is among companies that are leading plastic waste reuse and sustainability efforts in the continent’s nascent recycling sector, which currently salvages only 4% of the waste produced. The start-up turns hard-to-recycle plastic waste (polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene) into affordable building materials, removing 45,000 kg of plastic waste from landfills every day.
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