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Kenyan engineer wins Africa's 2020 Young Champion of the Earth award for creating bricks out of plastic
Nzambi Matee, a Kenyan engineer, has created bricks made from plastics that are 7 times stronger than concrete. The engineer sought ways to reuse the plastic that pollutes the city of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
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According to the engineer, she was tired of watching the sweepers, who try to collect all the plastic that is in the city. And it was worth it, because in addition to contributing to the environment, the creation of the bricks, earned the engineer the 2020 Young Champion of the Earth award from Africa, which is recognized by the United Nations Environmental Program.
What are plastic bricks made of?
Nzambi, being a materials engineer, created the bricks made only from plastic waste and sand. The striking feature is the resistance of the material, which tends to be 7 times stronger than concrete. Furthermore, it was the engineer herself who developed the machinery that was used to manufacture the plastic bricks.
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The material is taken to ovens at high temperatures, to be subsequently heated and mixed with sand. This mixture of plastic and sand is molded using a hydraulic machine, capable of building a variety of bricks for paving. The bricks created by the engineer can be of different colors, shapes and thicknesses, costing approximately US$ 7,7 (R$ 43,95 in direct conversion) per square meter.
Engineer Nzambi developed a startup
The engineer created Gjenge Makers in 2018, a startup totally focused on reusing waste that could harm the planet. This waste comes from companies that would dispose of both low and high density polyethylene plastic, which could not be recycled or processed. Currently, the startup has already employed more than 110 people, being able to produce more than one and a half thousand bricks per day.
Since its creation three years ago, Nzambi's company has recycled more than 20 tons of plastic that would be discarded by companies. According to her, the current objective is to triple current production and offer the same solution to other countries on the African continent.
