Your junk, my gold- Former lecturer mints millions from recycling household waste in Kayole

Twice a week, Simon Munywe collects three kilogrammes of garbage from about 12,000 households in Kayole at a small fee.

But if you do the maths, the founder of Kayole Environment Management Association (KEMA) generates about Sh1.4 million a month, given that every household pays him about S120 for his services.

Munywe with his team of 120 youth collects the junk and gets paid Sh10,000 per month for sorting garbage into three units; organic biodegradable which he uses to make manure for sale; plastics which he recycles and from which he makes items for sale. He also sales the glass and metal to other recyclers.

From the garbage, KEMA develops a wide range of products.

“I melt high-density plastics like basins, plastic chairs and bottles under controlled heat and make termite-proof fencing poles, plastic drainage tunnels and roofing tiles,” he says.

From the low-density plastics like paper bags, he makes handbags, pillows and cushions.

Munywe, a former mathematics lecturer at a leading university in Nairobi, is also involved in training people on making briquettes.

“I use coffee and rice husks, sawdust and plastic material in specific ratios to form a smokeless fuel that can burn for three hours,” Munywe says. He has a unique briquette-making machine which he created to mould the charcoal into small regular shapes ready for drying.

“I also sell the machine, which goes for Sh35,000. Normally, I sell about 50 machines every month within and outside the country, especially in Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia among others,” he says.

“Most supermarkets are eager to sell this type of fuel,” he adds.

Munywe also treats latrines by “using zinc from old batteries, caustic soda, sodium and hydrochloric acid which I mix in specific proportions. These react in combustion, forming a huge smoke which then separates fluids from the solids. The fluids flow into the soil and the solids sink down.”

His latest invention is a pit latrine seat for the aged. He sells it for Sh3,500.

Munywe’s greatest challenge however is convincing people that recycled products are of good quality.

He plans on scaling up the business by increasing the number of people with briquette-making machines by 10,000, and contribute towards increasing forest cover in the country from seven to 10 per cent.

“This project needs Sh3 million and I’m looking for investors to help fundraise for it,” he says.

His efforts have not gone unnoticed. Munywe recently was feted as the overall winner of the Energy Global National Awards which came with Sh1.1 million prize money, and another from the ministry of Housing, on solid waste management, which earned him Sh50,000.

He has just concluded his PHD on environmental conservation from Strathmore University.