0:05

Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome

0:07

to Stuff I've Never Told you production of iHeartRadio.

0:18

And welcome to Feminists around

0:20

the World, where we celebrate activists,

0:24

advocates, all those who are creating

0:26

differences and making so much change,

0:28

and we want to get flowers while they're still

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with us. Annie,

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As in fact, we actually got a shout out from

0:34

someone that we may have to come back to and

0:36

hopefully maybe we can do an interview. I'll

0:38

tell you off Mike, but yeah, we got

0:41

someone who actually caught us. They're like, I

0:43

saw my name and I was like.

0:44

What, Oh, that's cool.

0:46

I meant to tell you this off Mike, but I just remembered

0:49

it as we're talking about it. Because that's one of the things

0:51

that we want to do is celebrate who they

0:53

are and what they've been doing while

0:55

they're still with us, and not wait till it's too

0:57

late. Ever happened

1:00

way too much where people do not get their flowers

1:03

when they deserve it. We want them to know we appreciate

1:05

them. And that's kind of the point of the

1:08

segment in itself. And today

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we are talking about an amazing

1:12

activist, an entrepreneur

1:15

who's been working to change waste

1:17

into something sustainable, and that

1:20

activist and entrepreneur is in zombie.

1:23

Mati from Nairobi.

1:26

Mati is an engineer, an innovator,

1:28

and environmentalist and so much

1:30

more. She has already accomplished

1:32

so much within her thirty one years

1:35

and continues to change the world with

1:37

her innovative ideas.

1:39

And apparently she's got a lot of them. This is just one

1:41

of them.

1:42

All the people who know her or have interviewed

1:44

her are like, yeah, she's got ideas.

1:46

So I'm really excited to find out if there's more

1:48

that we see. But yeah.

1:50

So. After being trained in engineering

1:52

in biochemistry, Mati worked

1:54

as an engineer in the Kenyan oil industry,

1:57

but soon left her job in twenty seventeen

2:00

to start her new venture. She told

2:02

interviewers quote, in twenty

2:04

seventeen, I decided to quit my formal

2:06

job as a data analyst in order

2:09

to focus on sustainability and waste

2:11

management. Using material engineering

2:13

and science background, I was like, how

2:15

can we figure it out a way to convert this plastic

2:18

waste into something useful. It

2:20

was from here when I decided to enter building

2:22

space, because building is a basic

2:24

human need. Fast forward. That's

2:26

how we ended up converting plastic into building

2:29

blocks.

2:30

And with that she founded the company Jingay

2:32

Makers, which has become an innovative solution

2:35

to the plastic that has been wasted

2:37

and no longer in use. From their site Jingay

2:40

dot co dotke quote,

2:42

Jingay constitutes a community focused

2:45

enterprise driving to cater to the requisite

2:47

for sustainable and economically viable alternative

2:50

building materials within Kenya and

2:52

the broader continent. Our inaugural

2:54

creations are innovations formulated from

2:56

recycled plastics utilized to fabricate

2:59

plastic paid blocks, plastic paving

3:01

tiles, and plastic manhole covers.

3:04

Our Assembly conceptualize the inception

3:06

of a plastics accumulation enterprise

3:09

which was intended to categorize and

3:11

vent plastic waste to other recycling

3:13

corporations. The realization that we

3:15

were amassing waste more rapidly than

3:17

it could be absorbed by the recycling entities

3:20

led to a reevaluation and alteration

3:22

of our original concept. Consequently,

3:25

a resolution was reached to augment the

3:27

value of these plastics. Thus

3:29

the idea to create alternative construction

3:32

products was conceived.

3:33

Yeah, and it goes on talking about their mission,

3:36

saying our mission is to devise innovative

3:38

solutions for the development of esthetic, pleasing

3:41

and sustainable alternative construction products,

3:43

carrying not only to Kenya, but also extending

3:46

our reach across the African continent. Our

3:48

objective is the supply sustainable and

3:50

cost effective alternative building materials

3:53

while simultaneously generating employment

3:55

opportunities for the youth and women. We

3:57

are committed to fostering a culture of cycling

4:00

and upcycling within Kenya and throughout

4:02

Africa, contributing to environmental

4:04

preservation and stateability. And

4:06

they explain how it's done, saying, we accumulate

4:09

the plastic waste and utilizing the state of

4:11

the art technologies, we process

4:13

it amalgamating the recycled plastic with

4:15

sand to formulate a mixture. This

4:17

concoction is then molded to fabricate

4:19

our diverse products. Jinay Makers

4:22

has carved a unique position as a pioneering

4:24

manufacturer in delivering aesthetically pleasing,

4:27

economically accessible, and environmentally

4:29

sustainable alternative plastic building materials,

4:32

and.

4:33

In different interviews she has explained why she

4:35

has dedicated her life to doing this quote,

4:37

plastic waste is not just a Kenya problem.

4:40

But it's a worldwide problem. Here in

4:42

Nairobi, we generate about five hundred metric

4:44

tons of plastic waste every single day,

4:46

and only a fraction of that is recycled.

4:48

We decided what more can we do instead

4:51

of just sitting in the sidelines and complaining.

4:53

Essentially, companies have to pay to dispose

4:56

the waste, so we solve their problem.

4:59

That waste essentially comes for free.

5:01

And she explains that she feels plastic

5:03

is misused and misunderstood. Quote,

5:06

it is absurd that we still have this problem

5:08

of providing decent shelter, a basic

5:10

human need. Plastic is a material

5:12

that is misused and misunderstood. The potential

5:15

is enormous, but this afterlife can

5:17

be disastrous. We thought of this amazing

5:19

material, but we didn't think of the repercussions.

5:22

We didn't think about the afterlife, especially

5:24

of single use plastics. And in twenty

5:27

twenty, she was named Young Champion

5:29

of the Earth Winner at the United Nations

5:31

Environment Program or un EP, and

5:34

she was able to get funding and mentoring through the

5:36

program.

5:36

And here's a bit from the un EP website

5:38

about her work. Quote. Through

5:41

trial and error, she and her team learned

5:43

that some plastics bind together better than others.

5:45

Her project was given a boost when Mattee

5:48

won a scholarship to attend a social entrepreneurship

5:50

training program in the United States of America.

5:53

With her Pavor samples packed in her luggage.

5:55

She used the material labs in the University

5:57

of Colorado, Boulder to further test and refine

6:00

the ratios of sand to plastic.

6:02

Right, and here's a quote from lifegate dot

6:04

com about the process of the plastic waste

6:06

recycling her company does. Quote

6:08

in Zombie explains that several stages to Jingay's

6:11

mechanical plastic waste recycling. She

6:13

said, the first stage involves preprocessing,

6:15

which includes the sourcing and collection of plastic

6:17

waste. The waste is clean, shredded,

6:20

and separated into different plastic types. Secondly,

6:22

the processing stage involves the mixing of

6:24

waste plastic with sand and glass.

6:27

However, it isn't at this process when they add

6:29

color in the process. Meanwhile, the

6:31

final stage involves a hydraulic press,

6:33

which includes breaking the mixture into different

6:35

shapes and sizes depending on whatever block

6:38

you're making. And then the materials

6:40

are moved to the cooling bath where they reduce the

6:42

temperatures to room temperature, and once

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the blocks are cool, they are ready to be laid.

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And Zombie said the paving blocks are stronger

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and cheaper than concrete blocks, and

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that's what the company specializes in

6:54

making high quality sustainable pavers

6:56

and construction breaks from use plastic.

6:58

These bricks, though, were not her original intention.

7:02

In euronews dot com, they write quote,

7:05

creating building blocks out of plastic wasn't

7:07

in in Zombie's business plan. She was

7:09

initially going to open a plastics collection

7:11

company that would sort and sell plastic

7:14

waste to other recycling companies. How

7:16

their in Zombie realized Jingay

7:19

was collecting waste faster than the recycling

7:21

companies could uptake, so she decided

7:24

to use her engineering background and pivot

7:26

to create sustainable, alternative

7:28

construction products. Now Jingay

7:30

has become a trailblazer in the industry

7:34

and her work is reaching beyond just

7:36

the sustainability part. From lifegate

7:39

dot com article, they quote Matie

7:41

saying our company employees

7:44

marginalized individuals, especially women in youth.

7:46

Jingay Makers is empowering communities

7:49

and offering hope for a better future. This

7:51

combination of environmental and social

7:53

sustainability makes Jingay Makers

7:55

stand out as a true pioneer in the

7:58

world of social entrepreneurship.

8:00

Yeah, she has become an inspiration for

8:02

so many and as of twenty twenty three, her

8:04

company has done so well that the demand

8:06

is exceeding the supply and according

8:09

to that eunews dot com, their

8:11

work keeps expanding and helping so many

8:13

quote. Jingay also plans to help

8:15

the community by promoting upcycling, recycling

8:18

culture and providing jobs for young people across

8:20

the African continent. I'm happy to say

8:22

we have one hundred and twenty three families

8:24

benefiting from this process, and Zombie says.

8:26

Looking long term, the young

8:29

entrepreneur plans to use her skills to train

8:31

the next generation. She hopes this

8:33

kind of recycling, turning plastic waste into

8:35

viral resources is a model every country

8:37

will eventually adopt. And honestly, I was looking

8:39

at their site.

8:40

They look good. I want some of those.

8:42

I want some of those who put into my property

8:45

because they look like nice and they've done

8:47

a really great job. Of course, this is just one

8:49

of the things that she is doing and she's being recognized

8:51

for. Her award came in twenty

8:53

twenty I can't imagine that's

8:55

the last award, but I haven't found anything

8:57

else. I'm sure we'll be hearing more about the company

9:00

what they're doing.

9:00

I hope we do.

9:01

I hope becomes global because it

9:03

needs to be accessible.

9:04

Yes, yes, this is

9:07

such an important thing and I have a lot of

9:09

friends who are involved in stuff like this, So this

9:11

is an exciting topic to go over, and

9:14

I'm glad people are looking into it because it's yeah,

9:16

impacting all of us. Well,

9:19

if you have any more resources listeners

9:22

that we could use to come

9:24

back to this topic

9:26

or this person, please let us know. If you have any suggestions

9:29

for this segment, Please let us know. You

9:31

can email us at Steffania Momstuff at iHeartMedia

9:34

dot com. You can find us on Twitter at moms Stuff

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podcast, or on Instagram and TikTok at

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stuff I've Never Told You. We have a tea public

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store, and we have a book you can get wherever you get

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your books. Thanks is z Alwis too, our super

9:45

producer Christina, our executive producer Maya, and our

9:47

contributor Joey.

9:48

Thank you and thanks to you for listening.

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Steffan Never Told You is projection of iHeartRadio for

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