We make pavement bricks using plastic waste | Gjenge Makers Journey
Summary
TLDRFounders Connect Africa introduces Jenga, a startup turning plastic waste into durable pavers for construction. The team, comprising four engineers, has developed a production line that recycles waste into building materials, offering a sustainable solution to pollution. Despite initial challenges, they've gained market acceptance and are now looking to scale up and diversify their product line. They also discuss the broader waste management industry's potential and the importance of a circular economy.
Takeaways
- 🌍 Founders Connect Africa is a team of changemakers focused on sustainable solutions for plastic waste pollution.
- 🏗️ The team, consisting of mechanical and industrial engineers, produces alternative building products like pavers from waste plastic.
- 🔧 They have been in operation for two years and have spent four years on research and development before launching their product.
- 🛠️ The machinery used in production was custom-built by the team after they couldn't find existing machines that met their needs.
- 📈 Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have seen a positive reception and increasing orders for their products.
- 🏢 They are now fully certified by the Kenya Bureau of Standards, which was a hurdle they had to overcome to bring their product to market.
- 🚀 The team's next steps include targeting larger projects and diversifying their product line beyond the current rectangular pavers.
- 💪 Their products are durable, capable of holding three times the weight of concrete, and are also customizable in color and design.
- ♻️ The business model aligns with the growing push for production responsibility and a circular economy in waste management.
- 💰 The founders emphasize the importance of a strong 'why' and persistence, having faced numerous rejections before securing investment.
Q & A
What is the main focus of Founders Connect Africa?
-Founders Connect Africa focuses on creating sustainable solutions for plastic waste pollution by producing alternative building products from waste plastic.
Who are the team members of Jenga, as mentioned in the script?
-The team members of Jenga include David, a mechanical engineer, Kim, an industrial engineer, Cheng, also a mechanical engineer and an expert in machinery processes, and the speaker who describes themselves as 'tagging along'.
What inspired the team to start Jenga?
-The team was inspired to start Jenga with the dream of finding a practical and sustainable solution to plastic waste pollution by using it to address the need for affordable building materials.
What products does Jenga produce?
-Jenga produces pavers, which are used for sidewalks, food courts, and driveways, made from waste plastic.
How long has Jenga been in operation?
-Jenga has been in operation for two years, with the product officially launched in the market in the second year, and the research and development phase spanning approximately four years.
What challenges did Jenga face in the beginning?
-Initial challenges included being a small team with limited resources, the need for certification by the Kenya Bureau of Standards, and the lack of established waste management structures.
What are Jenga's plans for the future?
-Jenga plans to target bigger projects, work with government and large construction corporations, and diversify their product range beyond the current rectangular pavers.
How does Jenga differentiate its products from competitors?
-Jenga's products are three times stronger than concrete, customizable in color and design, lighter than concrete for easier transportation, and are part of a circular economy as they can be recycled.
What advice does the team have for young people interested in waste management solutions?
-The team advises young people to be true to their 'why', which is the reason behind their motivation, and to persevere through challenges and rejections.
How did Jenga secure investment for their business?
-Jenga secured investment by demonstrating a working prototype and engaging in numerous discussions with potential investors, showing persistence and a strong team capable of executing their vision.
What is the production process like for Jenga's pavers?
-The production process involves mixing sand with crushed plastic, adding color pigment, heating and extruding the mixture, pressing it into molds using a hydraulic press, and finally cooling the pavers before they are removed and further cooled.
Outlines
🌍 Founding Jenga: Turning Trash into Treasure
The video introduces the founders of Jenga, a company in Africa that transforms plastic waste into durable building materials like pavers for sidewalks and driveways. The team, consisting of a group of engineers, started with a dream to find a sustainable solution to plastic pollution by addressing the basic need for housing. They have been operational for two years, with the first year dedicated to research and development. The company's production line includes machinery that they custom-built to meet their specific needs, showcasing their innovative spirit. Despite the challenges of being a small team, they have received an overwhelmingly positive response in the market, even during economic downturns.
🔨 Production and Certification Challenges
This paragraph delves into the production process of Jenga's building products, highlighting the company's capacity to produce up to 1200 pavers per day. The pavers come in different sizes to accommodate various weight-bearing requirements, such as footpaths and areas for heavy vehicles. Jenga faced challenges in certification by the Kenya Bureau of Standards, which is essential for market entry. The team's persistence led to full certification, a significant milestone. They also discuss their plans to diversify their product range and target larger projects, including government contracts, to increase their impact and awareness of their sustainable building solutions.
🌱 Environmental Impact and Industry Insights
The founder shares his inspiration for entering the waste management industry, emphasizing the need to move beyond complaints and take action. He discusses the environmental benefits of Jenga's products, which are three times stronger than concrete and customizable to customer preferences. The bricks are also lighter, reducing transportation costs. The paragraph explores the broader waste management industry in Kenya, which lacks a structured system but offers vast opportunities for innovation and growth. The government's push for producer responsibility is seen as a catalyst for more sustainable practices, encouraging the creation of a circular economy.
💼 Financing and Expansion Strategies
The video script describes the financial journey of Jenga, from initial savings and family support to securing investment for scaling up operations. The team's determination to prove their concept led them to numerous meetings, resulting in 52 rejections before finding an investor. The founder emphasizes the importance of a strong team and a clear 'why' for driving persistence through challenges. He advises young entrepreneurs to stay true to their purpose and be prepared for the ups and downs of the entrepreneurial journey. The paragraph concludes with a brief overview of Jenga's production process, from mixing sand and plastic to the use of an extruder and hydraulic press for molding and cooling the final products.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Plastic Waste Pollution
💡Sustainable Solution
💡Alternative Building Products
💡Mechanical Engineering
💡Industrial Engineering
💡Research and Development (R&D)
💡Certification
💡Customization
💡Waste Management
💡Circular Economy
Highlights
Founders Connect Africa introduces a team of changemakers focused on sustainable solutions for plastic waste pollution.
The team, consisting of mechanical and industrial engineers, discusses their innovative approach to creating alternative building products from waste plastic.
Jenga, their company, was founded with a vision to address plastic waste pollution by producing affordable building materials.
The production line currently focuses on pavers made from waste plastic, used for sidewalks, food courts, and driveways.
Despite being in operation for two years, the team has spent four years on research and development to perfect their machinery and product.
The team designed and fabricated their own machines to meet the specific requirements of their production process.
Despite the economic challenges posed by the pandemic, Jenga has seen a positive reception and increasing orders for their products.
Jenga's products are certified by the Kenya Bureau of Standards, a crucial step for market entry.
The team's next goal is to target larger projects and collaborate with government and major construction corporations.
Jenga plans to diversify their product line beyond the current rectangular pavers to include other shapes and building products.
The pavers produced are three times stronger than concrete and can be customized in color and design to meet customer preferences.
Jenga's pavers are also lighter than concrete, making them more cost-effective to transport.
The team emphasizes the importance of waste management solutions and the opportunities for innovation in creating a circular economy.
The founder shares his personal journey and inspiration, highlighting the impact of seeing others tackle similar challenges.
Fundraising for the business involved a combination of personal savings, family support, and eventually securing an investor.
The team's persistence is highlighted by their efforts to secure investment, attending 52 meetings before finding success.
Advice for young entrepreneurs is shared, emphasizing the importance of having a clear 'why' to stay motivated through challenges.
The production process is detailed, from mixing sand and plastic to the use of an extruder and hydraulic press for shaping and cooling the pavers.
Transcripts
one month's trash is another month's
treasure did you know
that a bottle top could make road
pavements
this is founders connect africa
hi how are you hi how are you thank you
so much for meeting us
yes this is uh we are the change makers
changemakers the really proud ones very
proud changemakers
yeah so we as i said
this is the team so that's david
genius mechanical engineer that's kim
he's the industrial engineer in terms of
the production line
and that's cheng he's also a mechanical
engineer
and a really a heavy expert as far as
the machinery process
is concerned yes and i just tag along
i just stuck along that's what i do
thank you so much for having us here at
this yankee
known to a lot of machines here um
just tell us how did younger start so
jenga started with a dream of four
people
me and a team of three very brilliant
engineers
and the idea was how do we find the most
sustainable solution
to plastic waste pollution and giving a
solution that is practical
the best way we saw that we could do a
practical solution was to directly
impact the basic needs
and in this case housing is one of the
basic needs so that is
literally the dream we had how do we use
one problem plasticquest pollution
to solve another problem of building or
alternative
affordable building products so what do
you produce here
so here in general makers we produce
alternative building products
our current production line is pavers
which are
which are used for sidewalks food parts
and driveways
that are made from waste plastic or
otherwise plastic is a component
how long have you been in this business
so in terms of operation
we have been in two years two years in
operation
this year in fact we launched our
product officially in the market
but in terms of research and development
this will be our like fourth year
yes because before we even bring the
product in the market we have a lot a
series of
research and developments just from
machines all the way to the product
itself
tell me why did you get those machines
they look very heavy
yes yes um so this is a
pure pure beautiful work of art by our
team the jenga team
the team of four brilliant engineers of
course we had
help because as you can see this thing
is almost 2-3
times i think yeah so you need a
machinery and a few more hands
to set it up but they they from
everything from the design
to the execution to the fabrication we
did it as a team
that's because we we searched we really
scout the internet to find the machines
that could
give us what we wanted and unfortunately
we didn't get
exactly what we wanted we got something
close but not exactly what you wanted
so we decided you know what if the
mountain cannot if muhammad does not go
to the mountain
let's bring the mountain to mohammed wow
so you literally guilt
your own machines from this yes wow so
um
you have been in business for say two to
three years
um how has it been do you have a lot of
customers
how do you did you start looking for
your own customers for this
yes so as early as stated this was our
official first year of
launch in the market and we're really
really fortunate and really happy
that the reception this perception has
been amazing
even despite the covered situation
especially the impact that it has had in
the economy
in terms of the recep reception in the
market we are really getting increasing
in orders in fact we need to start
working on our capacity
we need to start trumping it up or
rather thinking of ramping it up
what has been your challenges so
as i stated earlier first of all being a
relatively small team
we have to really get like everyone
doing everything like all hands on deck
so if we can like
get more skilled youth story targeting
youths
that doesn't mean if you don't have the
skill you cannot do it we can always
upskill you that's the first thing the
second thing is
we before we were not certified by the
kenya bureau of standards so and for you
to bring a product in the market
you have to be certified so but right
now as you speak
we are really fully certified from the
kenya bureau of standards
what is next for you um so for
for next thing our next step is uh we're
targeting bigger projects
um hopefully going for the likes of the
government
and other big construction corporations
to
in to you for for them to be able to be
aware and also for them to try and use
the product that is alternative
in the space and also to diversify our
product
right now we just have one papers the
rectangular ones but also now
looking to diversify not to just in the
shapes but also in other building
products generally
so this is an example of of what you do
this is uh
about 40 mm fever so there are different
standards in the peppers the difference
is the thickness
so depending on where you're going to
put it it determines the size
so like this one the small one is
essentially for compounds foot bridge
food parts and where there's like not
that heavy heavy
um wheat and then there's a bigger one
which is the
medium duty that one is somewhere where
you have like vehicles
um not relatively heavy machinery but
just generally vehicles lorries and
stuff
then you have a bigger one where you
have like trailers and the likes that
can sustain the weight
and yes how many do you do this in a in
a day
so right now we are running a 500 brick
a shift per day currently we're just
running one shift
but we have the capacity of running two
shifts so essentially to be anything
between 1 000 to 1200.
every day every day wow interesting
um so what differentiates you from other
people
okay from the competition yeah okay so
just starting with the product itself
from the test we've run in partnership
with the kenya bureau of standards
this brick holds three times the weight
of concrete
so for example like the same the exact
same size of concrete will carry
anything between 40 to 50
newton per millimeter weight that's the
compression strap
this one carries 140 so it's almost
three times
the the impact that's the first one the
other one is we have the capacity of
making as many color variations as the
customer wants
our biggest asset is we have the ability
to customize
based on the customer's input so right
now we have
like the last site we did we had
a series of normal the gray the gray
color and then a series of patterns
with different colors and we were able
to execute it
some of the materials but it was it was
because of the material we're about to
use it's that's
easily achievable the other thing is as
you can feel this brick is
it feels heavy but it's relatively
lighter or if you compare with the
concrete
it's almost half the weight so therefore
you're able to transport more
for left for less cost yeah so
essentially if you are to transport
maybe 100 of these you would need more
for
more like a bigger truck for concrete as
compared to this one
yeah and the last one
unbreakable unbreakable good stuff let's
talk about the industry at large
waste management solutions
what are the um issues surrounding
the industry that you'd like probably a
lot of regulation or
you see opportunities for people who
would definitely want to enter into this
business
yeah um for the worst management system
we are yet to be like fully uh having
structuralized for the lack of a better
word there is no structure so you
quite don't know it's not there it's not
that it's not there it's just not
well established but with that said and
then there are
numerous opportunities because right now
as you speak
the government has the push to put what
you call a
production responsibility a producer
responsibility
that is well for every company that
produces any product in the market you
have to figure out or you have to think
what is the reuse and the recycle
element of the product after consumption
by the consumer
so that is one that provides that opens
up a huge space
where many can come on board and and
come and come and see
what can be put into the into that space
because
right now as we speak we really need to
start thinking about that
yes i know culturally as kenyans and
africans environment is the last thing
we ever think of
and and that i don't i don't blame them
because people have
more more urgent issues for example you
not think of environment when you're
hungry
but now from just a holistic point of
view
we need to start thinking of how do we
create a cyclic economy
and this is the one way because once you
finish once the producer packages your
soft drink
in that container you finish using it
you take it back to the recycler the
recycler recycles it and what you cannot
process again we take that and we bring
it to the paving block
and that and this the beauty about this
brick also is you can we're going to
process it again
so numerous opportunities lie there one
was waste is another
one's opportunity did you really enjoy
um environment when you were young or
how did you
love to be in this business so the idea
first of all i got inspired by other
people doing
a similar things in different places
that was really impactful
another thing is i get the feeling
we can do more just other than just
complain
for the lack of a better word and this
was just me
showing that yes other than me sitting
down and complaining why don't i do
something so when i tell you hey you
should sort your bottles
and once you finish drinking your sodas
you can just put them aside in
agunia that that
it will it will make you like you you
listen to me because i can show you how
to do yeah
to do that okay uh one of the last
questions how much should you invest in
this business
let's just say it's uh it's quite it's
quite some
it's quite some amount let's just say so
do you
have you saved up or what have you so
it's a combination of both so that the
prototype
the prototype of course we i use the the
savings
and a lot of from family and and friends
but to set up such a an entity you will
need some heavy investment
and of course we got assistance from
that you got an investor
yeah how did you do that how did you get
it i'm so
as i said we we are a team of four
really brilliant people
so i i told my team members uh that's a
oching
david and kim so we told them if we can
figure out
how to do just one brick we can know how
to make a thousand
so we had to know how to make just the
first one and so
once we got the first one then we went
around talking to different people
saying we can do this we just need
machine to replicate this maybe 500
times or a thousand times a day
so with that the conversation was a bit
easy because we had something
you were showing a product yes you had
it was not it was not the best
but it proved that concept yes okay how
many people did you talk to
ah wow wow
oh yeah um on top of my head
there are those who they don't they just
don't even give you time like
you just come in and they just say no
those ones are
enough but the ones who gave me even
just the door to open just to
here and then they they give me the
privilege of saying no what are they
i i the other way around was almost 52.
those ones are the ones i actually sat
down and i got to know so i successfully
got 52 news
yes over a period of almost eight months
wow
every day what drove you every single
day to go for this
um first of all um
like for example
[Music]
the the the the team really and i'll
under really emphasize on the team
because the team is
human is every human beings are
everything so i have a really strong
capable team
and they can really do wonders like they
can do magic
they just need an opportunity so that
was a fuel i was like
okay i know we can do that we can do a
lot we can do wonders we just need
someone we just need one person to say
yes just one person
and then the rest will fall in line so
that was the fuel
okay what would be your advice to young
people who are
probably thinking about um getting into
this kind of space
or people who are planning to create and
they give up on
the last the last minute they don't have
that zeal
to go for 52 meetings and being told no
um so the the the the zeal or
the fluctuates the times you have like
you're like yes i will do it
there are days you're like my friend
today i i just give up
i give up but like you have to have
something that
the why the i know a lot of people say
why and it sounds a bit cliche
but you have to be true to your why like
you have to say okay
you go why did i do this you answered
then why did i do that and then you go
to the really cool why
as to why you're doing that because
every time you go and you get all those
notes you can always fall back to your
why
thank you thanks so much and uh
caribou yes i can go around now
sawwasawa
so the first process so these are the
basics uh
in terms of what we need so this is sand
so the sun we mix it together
with the plastic so this is a crushed
plastic
oh you can crush the plastic yes so
because essentially
for the plastic and the sand to mix they
have to be almost at the same
size so you here you mix the sun the
plastic
and the color pigment yes so like for
example the production right now we're
doing a red color pigment
so the next stage is after they have
mixed homogeneously
you put them in you feed it in
in this machine and this is called an
extruder
extruder yes extruder so what
essentially it does it takes the plastic
and mixes it with sand at very high
temperatures okay
so it can go anything between almost
there right now we have 367
degrees centigrade so if a human being
was to enter here
that will disintegrate faster than you
can say disintegrate
so yeah you can feed it
so you feed it there
so it's mixing them while heating them
together so
this is what this is what comes out
yes
so the next stage of the process is here
so this is called a hydraulic press
so as it's as the name suggests it
presses things
so this is called a mold and depending
on the size you see right now we're
making a rectangular one here
once again this all this we we did it
the sauce
and then as you notice the temperature
is very high so we have to bring it down
so this is a cooling system the next
thing is pressing so this one is almost
about 100 to 200 metric tons
so once it fully fully presses it
you let it cool for like a few minutes
it can be seconds it can be minutes
depending on
how how much you want to produce yeah
that way
but essentially that's it so
like once it stops
so the next stage essentially once they
cool
is gonna come out with uh
for open gender yeah so
maybe just enough for you to remove okay
no no but hijab image just enough for
you too
the next step
is
[Music]
it will continue cooling as you continue
and then
the next stage shut our cooling session
when
[Music]
[Music]
you
Weitere ähnliche Videos ansehen
Recycled Plastic Bricks - Do They Work?
Bagaimana Ekonomi Sirkuler Diterapkan untuk Mengatasi Masalah Sampah di Jogja? | Narasi Explains
DBS Foundation Business for Impact Grant Award Programme 2023: Plana
Pengolahan Sampah Terbaik Di Indonesia! Luar Negeri Belajar Ke Banyumas🤯♻️
Verpackungs-Recycling ► Durch Wiederverwertung Plastik in der Umwelt vermeiden
HOW SWEDEN TURNS ITS WASTE INTO GOLD
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)