When you grow up in an African slum, you are constantly surrounded by heaps of plastic trash lying around.
As a young person, you might want to change the situation and maybe make a living out of it.
You might also want to clean this environment but in a sustainable way.
If you are one Lorna Rutto, you end up forming Ecopost, a company that recycles waste to clean the environment.
As one of the most celebrated Kenyan entrepreneurs, Lorna Rutto has created sustainable waste management solutions that are ridding Kenya of plastic waste.
She is addressing the issues of pollution, deforestation, and climate change by recycling plastic waste into timber alternatives for the construction industry.
Contents
Background Story
Lorna Rutto grew up in the slums of Kaptembwa in Nakuru County, Kenya.
During her school days, she would walk to school and see so much plastic waste in their surroundings.
Even as a young girl growing up, she would collect used plastics, melt them to turn them into jewelry pieces that she would sell to her schoolmates.
She later joined the University of Africa Nazarene, Kenya, and studied for a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Accounting.
After her university, she worked as a banker for two years before quitting to pursue business.
Her childhood interest in making useful things out of plastic waste inspired the business, conserving the environment and creating jobs and wealth in the process.
How Ecopost was formed
Lorna Rutto formed Ecopost in 2009.
She collaborated with one of her friends, Charles Kalama, who had studied Biochemistry at the University of London and understood the technical side of plastic recycling.
Ecopost buys plastic waste from the plastic collection yards located across the country.
In these yards, women buy plastic waste from the unemployed youths and then sort and clean them before selling them to Ecopost.
According to the World Bank, Africa generates over 70 million metric tonnes of municipal solid waste of which approximately 20% is plastic.
Ecopost has collected over 13 million kg of plastic waste from the environment since its formation.
The recycled plastics undergo various processes in the company before being turned into the building materials.
The materials ranging from construction beams and fencing posts are then sold in the Kenyan market.
What You Should Know About Ecopost
Ecopost uses existing technology, local labor, and resources to produce innovative products and help solve pressing socioeconomic and environmental challenges.
It also looks into the challenges of ensuring proper urban waste management.
Ecopost deals with recycling plastic waste to manufacture eco-friendly lumber posts.
These posts can take various shapes and strengths and are used for road signage, fencing, furniture, and building and construction support beams.
Some of Ecopost’s customers include the Kenya Wildlife Services and the United Nations which uses the posts to fence game reserves and refugee camps, respectively.
By providing alternative construction materials, the company claims to have saved over 4,500 acres of land from waste destruction while turning annual revenues of over $100,000 annually.
Outside those employed at Ecopost’s processing plant in Nairobi, the waste collection cycle supports thousands of youths and women in Kenya.
Over the last decade, Ecopost have enjoyed tremendous support from donors and investors both locally and internationally.
Some of the organizations that have partnered with Ecopost either by providing grants or investment into the company include; Opes Impact Fund, Blue Haven Initiative, Safaricom Foundation, Seed Intiative, World Wildlife Fund and Coca-Cola.
Challenges
Early in the business, they couldn’t afford rent and almost got kicked out of the waste processing premises.
However, she enrolled in a Business Plan Competition and won over $7,000 that helped them pay for the back rent.
From facing family skepticism when she quit a secure job at a bank to struggling with recurrent expenditure for a couple of years, Lorna is living her dream while doing her bit in saving our environment.
Awards & Recognitions
Caring for the environment has led to various awards and recognitions for Lorna Rutto.
Some of the awards include the Transform Kenya Awards, USA Unreasonable Institute Fellowship, Forbes 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa, and Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards.
Others are the Safaricom Youth Entrepreneurship Facility, the Enablis Award, the 2010 Bid Network Nature Challenge Award, and South Africa’s SEED Award.
In her own words;
‘‘My purpose in life is to do something about the poverty situation in our country and to conserve the environment. I do that by turning the trash into cash while creating job opportunities.”
