A pioneering company in recycling plastics in Somalia is transforming plastics into valuable items, creating jobs, and above all, protecting the environment. This initiative started in the wake of 2018 after the founder realized the environment of Mogadishu city was littered with plastics that posed a dangerous situation for the environment, soil, and marine environments. One would ask, how does the Company do its plastics recycling?
The company engages women and jobless youth from the nearby IDP camps who are desperate and living in deplorable conditions. This is done with the anticipation that the women will enjoy job opportunities in the company. Their main work?
- Collection of plastics as they create awareness of the negative impact of poor plastic disposal. There is a lot of plastic in and around Mogadishu city. From soda bottles, and grocery bags to ID cards. Plastics are used every day. Many of the plastics come from materials like petrochemicals. They litter and pollution. Most plastics are recyclable like PET, PVC, HDPE, LDPE, PS, and PP.
- The collectors then do sorting of the plastics according to the above-mentioned categories.
- The plastics are washed to remove impurities
- They are shredded and resized
- They are identified and separated according to categories
- Compounding is done.
- The recycling plant uses both traditional ( mechanical) and advanced recycling.
Many jobless youth and women have been offered jobs in the company as processors and others as field plastics collectors.