TURNING PLASTIC INTO BUILDING MATERIAL

Dr Aghan Oscar is a serial social entrepreneur with a strong background in Project Management and Public Health. This, coupled with his passion for the environment, recycling and green living led to the establishment of Green pavers in Kenya. A for‐profit social enterprise, Green Pavers addresses the challenges of urban waste management, plastic pollution, deforestation, access to energy and climate change.

 More than nine million tonnes of plastic garbage ends up in the ocean causing a major threat to marine life and people. The innovation recycles waste plastic into  plastic lumber using a mechanical   and energy conserving technology called -Styro-Plastic Densification.

Plastic lumber and Drive way Paving Blocks is an affordable alternative to wood timber and cement and can be used for fencing, building, construction and furniture production. This technology has the potential to counter environmental degradation, preserving forests, cutting down on deforestation and mitigating the effects of climate change

Every year, more than nine million tonnes of plastic garbage ends up in the ocean causing a major threat to marine life and people. Oscar’s innovation recycles and transforms post-consumer waste plastic into durable and environmentally friendly plastic lumber using a mechanical   and energy conserving technology   called-Styro-Plastic Densification. We make Plastic lumber, Solid Plastic Fencing Posts, Roofing Tiles (with Solar panels) and Drive way Paving Blocks as an affordable alternative to wood timber and cement which are used for fencing, building, construction and furniture production. This technology has the potential to counter environmental degradation by preserving forests using alternative building material, cutting down on deforestation while mitigating the effects of climate change Transforming waste Plastic into building materials to address affordable housing challenge using a modern recycling technology called styro-plastic densification. Styro – . The technology is 300-40% cheaper than the conventional recycling process commonly known as extrusion.

MY PROJECT ADRESSES THE FOLLOWING CHALLENGES

1. Waste Management-Nairobi dumpsite ( Dandora) recieves 30 metris tones everyday of which 28% in non biodegradable
2. Youth and Women unemployment-66% of youth in kenya are unemployed
3. Deforestration-Kenya as acountry only has 7.2% forest cover that is way below the 10% UN requirment
4. Affodable access to energy and housing- Every year,kenya requires 500,000 houses of whicch only 200,000 is supplied 

DENSIFICATION TECHNOLOGY

 Styro – Plastic Densification is a solid waste management technology developed locally by Dr Aghan Oscar which converts waste styro -plastic especially foamed polystyrene and plastic bags into useful products like table catwalk blocks, solid plastic fencing posts, synthetic timber planks, plastic planters, roofing tiles, solar roofing tiles

Objectives

• Create a community-based livelihood for the poor families residing near the dumpsite disposal facility and respond to the solid challenge in Nairobi City
• Provide a technology training for the operators
• Provide marketing platform the products made using the technology

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Every year, more than nine million tonnes of plastic garbage ends up in the ocean causing a major threat to marine life and people. Oscar’s innovation recycles and transforms post-consumer waste plastic into durable and environmentally friendly plastic lumber using a mechanical   and energy conserving technology

  called-Styro-Plastic Densification. We make Plastic lumber, Solid Plastic Fencing Posts, Roofing Tiles (with Solar panels) and Drive way Paving Blocks as an affordable alternative to wood timber and cement which are used for fencing, building, construction and furniture production. This technology has the potential to counter environmental degradation by preserving forests using alternative building material, cutting down on deforestation while mitigating the effects of climate change Transforming waste Plastic into building materials to address affordable housing challenge using a modern recycling technology called styro-plastic densification. Styro – This   is a solid waste management technology developed locally in Kenya by Dr Aghan Oscar which converts waste styro -plastic especially foamed polystyrene and plastic bags into useful products like table catwalk blocks, solid plastic fencing posts, synthetic timber planks, plastic planters, roofing tiles, solar roofing tiles. The technology is 300-40% cheaper than the conventional recycling process commonly known as extrusion.

The project serves the underprovilaged families living near the dumpsite by providing a livelihood through the value chain while it also creates a skill transfer and training on the new recycling technoligy. We have also enrolled all our members with (NHIF) National Health Insurance Funnd) which provides health cover for members and their families

Solid waste Management-We have lifted 450 tones od waste platis from the  land fill thus creating more green area for crop havestion and reduced vector breedin ground.

Conservation of Forest- So far 45, 000 cedar trees have been saved by providing alternative hardware . ( Fencing Posts) 

Reduction of CO2 into the atmospher-10.35 KGS of CO2 has been prevented from  the atmoshere thus reducing the depletion of the ozone layer.

Creation of employment- 400 people have been employed in the production plant and across the value chain supply

My Green Pavers Project is a social and transformative project. Public Waste  which is abreeding ground for vector diseases ai being transformed into affordable building harware.Residents involved in the project have had their lives changed from scravengers to Micro Entreprenuers with sustainable living income above the poverty lines.In  nutshel they have been elevated to social status that adhere to basic world standards residing in third world countries.Techncal skills and equipment fabrication skills have been imparted to them to change their lives. Today we have 20 Self Help Groups they belong to united as social transformers imparting knowledge and skills.

As a Public Health Consultant, i was assigned the role to establish how much garbadge goes into (Daandora) ,Nairobi City dumpsite. Upon submitting my report i became curious on if the material dumped at the site could have any economic value. So i started scientific investigations on what gas was being emmited from the site which i found out to be methane. So an idea come in on how to havest the gas for power  biodeisel generators to produce electric power. I therefafter did wrote a busness plan which enet on to win a business plan competition  award. later the investment required was found to be way beyound what i could afford. I there fore decide to settle on plastic whose quantities i had earier established. I commenced the plastic recycling project but later found that cost of power was very high using the traditional extrusion technology. Thereafter, the journiney of discovering a new technology that will reduce power consumption .The rearch developed a Styro Plastic Plastic  densifier  , which is a modern technology that recycles plastic at acost of 30-40% cheaper.The project recuited  residents living in the dumpsite vicinity and we have since replicated it in Mogadishu (somalia).

As a social entrprenuer, am passionate about social change and empowering local communities. I have seen youth and women transform from dumpsite scravengers to earn a decent living from the material they supply the project. Many who were street boys and prostitutes today lead decent and rsponsible lives. Developers and building contractors have found affordable building materials that can afford many aspiring Kenyans decent housing. we operate on the Eastern part of Nairobi where the dumsite is located . So far all those that are involved in the project ahve been introduced into Micro Finances and Banks like Equity Banks. They are all members of CBO's ( Comunity based Organizations and Self help Groups operating formally and are government registered.Today people refer to them as Micro Entreprenuers. Many have been trained to fabricate machines asnd have been recruited in the project as artisans making mechanical  equipment and machine operators where they earn regular income and are nolonger street urchines  or resident  prostitututes. Am inspired to see peoples lives change for the good herein kenya and Somalia ( Mogadishu) 

As a servant leader  and a social entrprenuer i have in me the following  God given traits that help elevate people

• Transformational and Innovative Leadership pashion: I address address big, critical issues in  communities with powerful, tangible solutions. i identify people with  talent, skills, background, and experience to create  change in the society..
• Purpose-Driven: Am driven to know why people  are doing what they do work, why the issues they  are tackling are important to them and thier community, results to date, and how they and my  work can inspire others.
• Problem Solving : My ideas and implementation are innovative, my messaging more effective. I  have the ability to persevere and transform obstacles into opportunities. Have i  been successful to date? Yes
• Radically Diverse: Whether they are  entrepreneurs where ever they are. 
• Resilient: I want want to learn about their challenges and failures and how i   help  them overcome.
• At a Tipping Point: I am  already driven by their  impact through my work and are well-positioned to do much more and inspire others to make change using the significantly larger audience and range of resources offered by the oportunity.

Providing network linkages that saw 8 corporate foundations come together to empower the project members. Those who were drug addicts were rehabilitated and sent to rehabilitation centres treatment. The 8 foundations namely ( World Vision, Mpesa Foundation, Chandaria Foundation, KCB Foundation, Bambururi Foundation, EABL Foundation, ILO, E4I Foundation) came together to fund the plastic crushing machine, Densifiers and skills trainning for 6 months.

Providing a bankable business plan was my responsibilitythat saw us present the plan to the philanthropic investors to fund the equipment.

Some of the funds were used for couselling  and rehabilitation to make members forgoe their past to change for the better.

The dificult challenge of understanding what  street urchines were, their aspirations, and prostitutes who hardly went to shool, was one oof the most challenging moments. Bringing my understanding to their level of thinking given the varied backgrounds we come from. Training them in the transformation process to be accepted back into society was a serious challenge. Getting them to drop using drugs and glue sniffing to be acceptable in society was a big step in their transformational journey.

God gives the authority to govern all that is willing to be governed. He grants man authority over the untamed and rebellious.God gave man a sweeping mandate of dominion over this plannet and everything in it.But stewardship requires responsibility.And implicit in the grant was   was a requirement that man order the plannet according to Gods willfor Gods purpose.This was a grant of freedom , not a license and am willing to take this responsiblity for the rest of my life. 

Green Pavers is a member of the A. J. Oscar & Co Ltd  This is an oganization involved in Manufacturing ( Recycling Plastic through CorecLtd, Organic Fertilizer , Water and Sewerage Management through Alara Water and Sewerage Management, Bentos Energ Ltdy, a charcoal briquettes manufacturing entity, Vanguard Contractors carrying out construction assignment and ManagementConsultancy. The holding firm owns stakes in Green pavers as asubsidiary .As a member of the largest recycling group in East African Region, it make it easy to accomplish tasks at any level and of any type which ultimately contributes to our motto.

www.corec.co.ke

www.bentosenergy.com

alarawater.co.ke

DENSIFICATION TECHNOLOGY

Traditional building and construction materials are expensive. The innovative Styro-Plastic Densifier from Green Pavers turns tons of waste plastic littering the streets and landfills into durable and affordable building materials making our cities and communities more green-friendly and sustainable.

 Styro – Plastic Densification is a  new nad mordern solid waste management technology developed locally by Dr Aghan Oscar which converts waste styro -plastic especially foamed polystyrene and plastic bags into useful products like table catwalk blocks, solid plastic fencing posts, synthetic timber planks, plastic planters, roofing tiles, solar roofing tiles

Objectives

• Create a community-based livelihood for the poor families residing near the dumpsite disposal facility and respond to the solid challenge in Nairobi City
• Provide a technology training for the operators
• Provide marketing platform the products made using the technology

• Train the communities living near the dumpsite on fabricating the styro-plastic densifier equipment used for recycling waste plastic. We expect to train 10 in the next 10 months.
• Create a community-based livelihood for the poor families residing near the dumpsite disposal facility and respond to the solid challenge in Nairobi City. We expect to have 30 in the next 12 months.
• Provide a technology training for the operators We expect to train 2 people monthly for the next 6 months. Provide marketing platform for the products made using the technology by using both main media and social media as a way of creating awareness of the products. This program is expected to run for the next 2 years

Empower the women and you end up empowering the whole community through mentoring ,employment provision and  skills transfer . We use the change quadrants model to address change.The change quadrants are used in determining the change agents, identifying active participants in the change process and establishing the scope and timming of change.inorder to maximise the success of the change efforts.This model is used to determine the right change strategy, given the type of change . We use it to analyze the types of change motives, an appropriate strategy that can be determined accorging the prevailing situation. The change can be cold or warm bearing the following circumstances:

• Barriers
• Goals
• External commitments
• Resistance
• Culture
• Empowerment
• Energy
• Norms and values
• Internal committment 

The change quadrants involve:

• Urgency
• Necessity
• Drive
• Situation/ Opportunity
• Momentum
• Regularly

The appropriate change strategy strategy is normally determined according to the following four strategies for change:

• Renewing
• Transforming
• Implementing
• Intervieing

Currently we work with 160 people

We expect to reach  600 people by end of the year  and make 10 styroplastic Densifiers to empower people.Locally these machines will target our 300 Constituency Development Funds spread accross the 300 constituencies. Contituency Development Funds are government arms of development at constuency level.These various funds will have expresssed interest to fund youth groups accross the counties that will see County Governments contarct Self Help Youth Groups embark on massive recycling at county level through our skill tranfere programe. We locally target to create direct employment to 5,000 youth at continuency levels.

We expect to serve and reach 5,000 inthe next 5 years because we will be in Nigeria,Cameroon, Somalia,South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leon, Ethiopia , Zambiaand Malawi. We have had expressions of intrests from thses countries and since the project is replicable all over then it is scalable to those countries like we have done in Mogadishu Somalia which dearly requires to be rebuilt using locally available resources.Silar models are expected are expected in all target counties to spur recycling technology and  youth employment creation geared towards provision of affordable housing building material. 

Develop a franchise model replicable in all the 10 African countries

Fabricate 2 syroplastic Densifiers every month while working in at least 20 counties in kenya because plastc and waste management challeng is cutts accross all counties in Kenyaand countries in Africa

Grow partnerships accross the African continet to facilitate technology transfer. and media exposure. As earlier mentioned the CDF will spur at least 5000 youth direct employment locally at county and constituency level.This is an achievement we expect to see in the next five years.

Limited Funding to fabricate the Styro-Plastic densifiers

Limited personnel to supprt the training program on skills transfer

Legal proceedures to cascade the project to grass root levels.

Patenting the technology accross the anticipated countries because patenting process is slow and cumbersome

Media exposure to taget markets on the alternative products that will afford Africans chep hardware

Standardardization of the newly developed products because most bureas do not have their standards because the products are new in the market.

Fund raise and support from local philanthropic organizations and foundations or impact investors.

Incorporate legal experts to help us reach various partners and parties to the project.

Sensitize both local and international communities and doner agencies to facilitate training and campains to creat awareness locally and internationally.

Work with standardiization bureas on deveoping standards to make them more acceptable in local markets

Partner with mainstram local and international media houses for marketing the project and products

• Wangari Mathai Institute of Peace and Environment- University of Nairobi on training students and providing attachments while creating awareness on green building products
• Jomo Kenyatta University Department od Architecture
• A.J.Oscar& Co Ltd  on providing  expertise and  investment to manage the project
• Growth Africa Captal on training and funding
• Sinnapis Academy on training
• National Housing Corporation in kenya
• Shelter Afrique
• Continental Renewable Energy
• Souverein Ventures
• Eco Resin Post
• Housing Finance Company of Kenya
• E4I for training and funding
• Nairobi Innovation Challange on markeing and product exposure
• Habitat for Humanity on fund raising and Pangea Accelerator  for training
• Ministry of Public Works on product adiption into mainstream built environment
• African Solutions in Somalia as aleady franchisees in Somalia
• Barnadir University in Mogadishu as a technology transfer partner in Somalia

Traditional building and construction materials are expensive. The innovative Styro-Plastic Densifier from Green Pavers turns tons of waste plastic littering the streets and landfills into durable and affordable building materials making our cities and communities more green-friendly and sustainable.

We recycle waste plastic and develope construction material like plastic fencing posts , roofing tiles  and paving blocks and sell them to developers and building contractors and othe public at margins between 43-65%thus making the project sustainable.

In the process what would have been waste goes into pproviding affordable building material in housing Africans using their garbadge.

Invest in more machinery  to upscale out put

fundraise to increase worling capital  that will go in procuring more machinery and waste plastic.

Partner with CDF (Constituency Development Authority) and County Governments in an effort to transfer rcycling technical skills to the youth and women at constituency level. We target 5000 people and at least 300 machines locally procured to address waste plastic manace.

Recruit more personel especially on the administration and marketing front

Invest on media publicity locally and internationally to market the produsts

Franchise many pore applicants to earn extra revenue while increasingsales of the existing product ranges

So far we have invested $ 85,000 from family and friends and got a bank loan of $,5,000 which we have since  serviced . We have  also  aquired a densifier, extruder, crusher, agglomerator , circular saw ,moulds, equipment, raw material training and 13 personnel working in the fatory in Komarok.

We expect tp sell at least 300 units of machimes to all constituencies totalling 300 and 47 counties to generate revenue from sale of equipment.talks are underway on how to popularize this equipment  as a first recyling equipment.

We expect to raise $500,000 in grant to procure solar tile line equipment

The line consists of moulds, screwfed machine densifiers and presses

We require a further $ 100,000 in apossibly a convertible note to finance personnel and raw material and marketing.

In 2018, the project generated $ 33,500 inrevenues while 2019 it generate

 $ 48,500 in sales. Revenues grew by 30 % in 2019. We expect this to grow to $ 78,000

We expect to reach a revenue od $ 50,000 in revnues with gross expenses amounting to $ 33,500 leaving a profit of 33%.

We expect to see a revenue growth of minimal revenue growthof 3% due to the  COVID 19 epidemic i2020.

Our project will benefit from the Elevate Prize by  raising funds for

• Investing the prize money  prize of USD $300,000 spread over two years, with potential for additional funding in acquiring the new  tile line comprising , a ScrewFed Machine, Moulds ( Roofing and SolarTiles and Paving Blocks) Presses and aditional Styro Plastic Densifier)
• Recruit professional management ( Marketing and Administration ) and development services ( Marketing ), mentorship and coaching, educational training, capacity building and slum members recruitment, while connecting  with influencers, industry leaders, and experts through Elevate Prize Foundation’s two-year program.
• Invest in a  tailored media and marketing campaign locally and internationally  aimed at amplifying our  work, building recognition and a fanbase around the Global Hero, and ultimately inspiring others to contribute to the public good.
• We will access the  dynamic network of Elevate Prize Global Heroes and partners.

The partnership and Support will focus on

• Raising funds for the USD $300,000 spread over two years, with potential for additional funding to  acqure machinery line to maake tiles both locally and  internationally. Some of the machines will be sources overseas
• Recruitment of pofessional management and development services, mentorship and coaching, educational training, capacity building, and connection with influencers, industry leaders, and experts through Elevate Prize Foundation’s two-year program. Legal and regulatory matters will be requred to cement relationship
• Sustained and  tailored media and marketing campaign aimed at amplifying their work, building recognition and a fanbase around the Global Hero, and ultimately inspiring others to contribute to the public good while popularizing the products as alternative construction material.
• Openning access to a dynamic network of Elevate Prize Global Heroes and partners will help us develope a strong brand locally while also developing strong local presence

Univrsities in Mogadishu and Juba because these are countries just emerging from war and youth  who are Ex soldiers require rehabilitation and intergration into the civilian community sustainably. They will benefit interms of skills transfer and, mentoring. We target University of Juba and Banadir University al who have already expressed interest.

University of Narobi through the Profesor Wangari Mathai Institute of Peace and Environment had ealier expressed interest of widening our relationship to expose students to various  environmental conservation technologies and attachments to creat more awareness.

Tangaza University College in nairobi have expressed interest because they intend to start Diploma In Waste Management programe to enhance environmental consrvationn

Institute of Environment in kenya have also expressed interest because of the unique products and programs they see us involving the marginalized population in.

E4 I have expressed interest and are already partners because they eant members amitted for internship.

Constituency Development Fund (CDF) numbering 300 constituencies  and 47 County Governments in buyng the equipments to enhance recycling at grass root level. This will see 5000 youth and women get employment directlty at the recycling centres while the projects will emensely contribute to provision of affordable building material in the fight against expensive housing .