The most documented genocide in history continues as Palestinians are slaughtered everyday by Israeli forces who drop bomb after bomb on schools, refugee camps, homes, hospitals, and aid facilities with the full backing of the U.S. The Lancet, a peer-reviewed medical journal and one of the highest-impact academic journals in the world, estimates that Israel has killed more than 186,000 Palestinians since October 2023. Its July 5th study found the actual death toll is higher than 40,000 because the UN’s toll doesn’t count the thousands of bodies buried under rubble, nor the deaths caused by Israel’s destruction of health facilities in Gaza.

So-called “evacuation orders” force surviving Palestinians into tiny concentration zones where deliberate starvation and disease spread are rampant. Others face torture and sexual abuse in Israeli prisons where systemic assaults by soldiers are well-doucmented, just as they were decades earlier.  

On July 19, the ICJ ruled that Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank is illegal, and its laws are “tantamount to the crime of apartheid.” However, that hasn’t stopped pro-Israel groups like AIPAC from pumping $100 million into U.S. elections to force out anti-genocide lawmakers and install their candidates. 

As part of the genocide, Israel has also killed record numbers of aid workers and falsely accused the UN agency, UNRWA, of employing terrorists. Israel has never provided proof of its claims, and an international investigation on April 22 found no evidence of terrorism with UNRWA workers. Still, Israeli soldiers have killed at least 284 total aid workers, including 212 from UNRWA.

Please consider giving to this vital UN aid agency – especially as the U.S. funds Israel’s genocide, no matter how many “red lines” it crosses.

How Nzambi Matee’s Plastic Bricks Combat Pollution In Kenya

 

Nzambi Matee holds a plastic brick

Nzambi Matee holds a finished plastic brick manufactured by Gjenge Makers, a company she founded with a small team of Kenyan engineers. (Source)

June 11, 2022 ~ By Shari Rose

In an effort to reduce plastic waste, Nzambi Matee designs and manufactures bricks made from recycled plastic

To combat plastic pollution in Kenya, Nzambi Matee worked to research, create, and mass-produce durable and long-lasting plastic bricks that are used in a wide array construction projects, including roads and buildings. Made from recycled plastic, these bricks effectively reduce plastic waste and provide affordable housing options to residents in Nairobi and throughout the country. Here’s how Matee and her company, Gjenge Makers, are transforming the fight against plastic pollution while contributing to the needs of the community at large.  

Matee Works To Build Bricks From Recycled Plastic

Before founding Gjenge Makers and manufacturing her plastic bricks on an industrial scale, Nzambi Matee worked as both an engineer in Kenya’s oil industry as well as a data analyst. Throughout her career, she paid special attention to the tremendous amount of plastic waste that plagued Nairobi and the rest of the country. 

Gjenge Makers with plastic waste in 2021

Two employees from Gjenge Makers collect recycled plastic that will form into bricks for use in future construction projects. (Source)

Like many countries, Kenya has a significant plastic pollution problem. But unlike others, Kenya is taking meaningful steps to reduce plastic waste, such as banning single-use plastic bags in 2017, and banning all forms of plastic from their national parks in 2020. Still, plenty of work remains in combating plastic pollution, and Matee found inspiration to do her part. With her extensive experience in material science, she set to work. 

Nzambi Matee with her first plastic brick

Nzambi Matee holds a completed plastic brick in an undated photo. (Source)

In 2017, Nzambi Matee quit her job and began experimenting with a wide range of different materials to combine with recycled plastic. She first built a small lab in her mother’s backyard to start her research, but soon received a scholarship from the University of Colorado Boulder to use their facilities and find a solution. 

After a full year of working toward this dream, Matee emptied all of her savings into the project. But she successfully created her first plastic brick in 2018. 

Science Behind The Plastic Bricks

Nzambi Matee’s plastic bricks, or pavers, are composed of a measured mix of recycled plastic and sand. Through a process that involves extremely high temperatures and compression, the mixture is exposed to intensive heat and pressure to form compact, lightweight bricks that can be used in a variety of ways.

Matee’s bricks have a melting point over 350 degrees Celsius, which is higher than that of both concrete and traditional brick. Because plastic is more fibrous in nature, these pavers are also 35% more durable than traditional bricks. 

Row of bricks made from recycled plastic

An Instagram video from Gjenge Makers features a stack of finished plastic pavers placed in a row. (Source)

These plastic bricks are sourced from three types of recycled plastic: high density polyethylene (shampoo bottles), low density polyethylene (plastic baggies), and polypropylene (plastic ropes and buckets).

In 2019, Nzambi Matee built a machine to produce her prototype brick on a mass scale. Along with a small team of engineers, she founded Gjenge Makers, and began manufacturing plastic-based bricks on an industrial scale.

“What has always remained true and what has always remained constant is I’ve always wanted to have an impact and create a dent in the universe as far as the environment is concerned,” Matee said in a 2021 interview. “And I’ve always wanted to build machines. So those two things have always remained constant.”

Plastic Bricks Produced By Gjenge Makers

Based in Nairobi, Gjenge Makers is a sustainable product manufacturing company that produces bricks made from plastic for all sorts of uses and environments. These pavers are used for both private and commercial businesses, as well as public roads and pathways. 

Gjenge Makers will not only provide the bricks, but also install them. The company’s social media accounts are filled with gorgeous brick designs and patterns, showing off how much their pavers can transform a public space. In addition, Gjenge Makers sources most of its recycled plastic from packaging factories and other recyclers throughout Kenya. 

Plastic bricks from Gjenge Makers in Kenya

A beautiful display of plastic bricks placed by Gjenge Makers in Kenya from the company’s official Instagram account. (Source)

“Essentially, companies have to pay to dispose the waste, so we solved their problem,” Nzambi Matee explained in a 2020 interview. “The waste essentially comes free.”

According to its website, the company has recycled 100 tons of plastic since opening its doors. Matee estimates that her company produces 1,000 to 1,500 plastic bricks each day. Prices for these bricks start at 850 Kenyan shillings, or $7.70 per square meter. 

More stories: Masako Katsura: Japanese Billiards Player Who Broke Gender Barrier

More stories: Wheelchairs & Airlines: Why Is Flying So Risky for Those With Disabilities?

More stories: How the Hatpin Panic Changed 20th Century Gender Politics

Matee’s Path To Success

As the founder of a now-thriving manufacturing business, Matee spoke very candidly about the early obstacles she faced with her startup business. And how a little voice in her head sometimes got in the way of her successes. 

“It varies from human being to human being, but generally we women have a skill, if I may say so, of second guessing ourselves so much,” she said. “So we second guess ourselves so much to the point of you even forget what you know, if I may say so. You disqualify what you know because you’ve second guessed yourself so much.”

Matee speaks about Gjenge Makers

Matee speaks about her manufacturing company, Gjenge Makers, in a 2021 interview. (Source)

But Matee says that taking the time to hear what each member of her team of engineers has to say has paid dividends in helping Gjenge Makers continue to grow and expand.  

“It starts with simple things as just listening,” she said. “It has taken a lot of self-awareness because I’ve learned to keep quiet and say, ‘let me listen.’ Even to the most quiet member of our team, let me listen. Because you’ll be surprised at what they have to say … Most of the time, we have saved ourselves from huge problems by listening to the most quiet member of our team.”

In recognition of her work at Gjenge Makers, Nzambi Matee was named a Young Champion of the Earth as part of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2020. 

Instagram of Gjenge Makers with plastic bricks

Employees at Gjenge Makers install plastic bricks as part of a public construction project on April 7, 2022. (Source)

With regard to young women like herself who are looking to make a difference in their fields, Matee offers this piece of advice: 

“I think we should stop trying to fit in, and we should start creating for ourselves,” she says. “Stop trying to fit into this male-dominated space and start creating your own space as a woman. Because every single day, you build something. So why don’t you build your own space?”

More stories: Xóchitl Guadalupe Cruz López: How Child Inventor is Changing Lives

More stories: How Enslaved Africans Braided Rice Into Their Hair & Changed the World

More stories: Lucy Hicks Anderson: Black Transgender Pioneer of the 1940s

Shari Rose

Shari Rose

Owner of Blurred Bylines 💖💜💙

I created Blurred Bylines in an effort to bring stories from marginalized perspectives into the national conversation. As a former copy editor at the largest newspapers in Arizona and Colorado, I’ve seen first-hand the potential of accurate and accessible information to change minds and affect national policy. 

My stories focus on individuals fighting for justice and their own rights as Americans, survivors of violent crime who rebuilt their lives after tragedy, shifting political trends that seek to strip the LGBTQ+ community and other minority groups of their freedoms, and forgotten figures in U.S. history whose fights for equality persist today.

Through writing these articles, I stumbled upon the power of search engine optimization (SEO) to attract interested audiences to my writing. In addition to the ad-free and paywall-free stories I write at Blurred Bylines, I also perform SEO services for businesses, nonprofits, and fellow freelancers around the country so they can grow their organizations through search engines. 

BB newsletter
1 Comment
  1. rolaine

    Your name says it all “Higher Creator God”
    We need more of your love of this earth!

    Reply
Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

SEO Services

Did you find this story on a search engine like Google or Bing? Search engine optimization, or SEO, allows websites to be found by users who are looking for exactly what they offer.

Shari Rose doing SEO work