500 billion tons of plastic bottles are produced annually, 600 tons of plastic waste are poorly disposed of daily in Kampala, and major beverage companies in Uganda replacing glass bottles with plastic for profit, leading to environmental damage. Uganda's growing population doubles the pressure on the housing sector, which relies on burnt bricks and accelerates deforestation.
Upcycle Africa is a social initiative that trains marginalized communities in Africa to upcycle plastic waste into valuable products such as accessories, garments, eco-homes, and fuel. The program empowers women, youths, refugees, and people with disabilities by teaching them creative skills and promoting an innovative mindset shift, breaking the chains of discrimination, unemployment, and shelter insecurity. The labor-based approach teaches eco-construction skills, allowing communities to build sustainable structures in displaced communities. The community-based waste management program empowers communities to collect and sell plastic waste, reducing the amount of waste in their localities. The Yo-plastic app connects waste collectors with waste buyers, providing a savings platform to monetize plastic waste, ultimately reducing the plastic waste challenge in both rural and urban centers by 70%.
Upcycle Africa has achieved significant milestones over the past 1-2 years, including sensitizing over 7 million people to waste, building 127 eco-homes, incubating 23 green startups, and recovering over 3.75 million plastic bottles through their waste picker program. They have also won several awards and have partnered with Sustainable Ocean Alliance to clean up plastic waste on Lake Victoria's shores.
By 2026 we will have trained over 10000 marginalized groups of people as waste collectors, sorters compactors and constructors and we are able to provide employment for 6000 of them due to a high demand of our services. We hope to head over 20 Zero waste campaigns in different parts of Africa and disrupt new markets, for example Nigeria, DRC, and Namibia. We hope to increase our team.
To adopt Upcycle Africa's solution in their context, interested parties should visit the organization's website and contact them through the provided channels. They can also reach out via their social media platforms to express their interest. The organization will then provide further guidance on the steps to follow and the requirements to implement the solution.
