Nairobi-based startup company Gjenge Makers, founded by Nzambi Matee, has created a lightweight and low-cost building material that is made of recycled plastic with sand to make bricks that are stronger than concrete material. Her company gets the plastic waste from packaging factories or buys it from other recyclers, she mixes with sand as the plastic like the binder. "Plastic is fibrous in nature, so therefore, the brick ends up having a stronger compression strength," according to Matee. "We right now have a capacity of producing 1000 to 15000 bricks a day."

According to Matee, Nairobi "generate about 500 metric tones of plastic waste every single day and only a fraction of that is recycled. We decided what more can we do instead of just sitting in the sidelines and complaining. Essentially, companies have to pay to dispose of the waste, so we solved their problem."

Her company Gjenge Makers' project has started to use the product with paving stones applied in houses, schools or streets, the product is highly durable and diminishes its maintaining cost. Her startup company produces about 500-1000 bricks per day, "recycling close to 500 kilograms of plastic waste a day."So far, they've recycled 20 metric tons, and are looking to push that value to 50 by the end of the next financial year. With her initiative, Matee has recently been named a Young Champion of the Earth 2020 Africa winner at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The award "provides seed funding and mentorship to promising environmentalists as they tackle the world's most pressing challenges."