The World Bank has revealed an estimated 2,400 tons of solid waste is generated in Nairobi every day, 20% of which is in plastic form. Most of it ends up at the Dandora waste dump, a huge mountain of trash where all garbage is mixed.
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To turn the tide “Eddy Gitonga” – Invented a smart intelligent waste bin, conceived to educate people on how to separate waste from source, to minimize 95 percent of the waste that ends up in dump sites and increase recycling activities, with long-term goals set on the economic advantage this service offers Kenya.
The Tech bin is powered by solar panels and along with getting access to information about waste disposal, users can get free Wi-Fi.
Joseph Nicholas a frequent customer of a shopping mall in Kiambu shared his thoughts on Eddy’s new tech –expressing a positive outlook towards the Tech bin;
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“This machine is very nice, I really like it and what about it I like is, whenever I come here I dispose my waste without payment and I get free Wi-Fi without any disturbance.”
This first T-bin was displayed in 2021. Since then, an average of 300 people have been using it daily, according to its inventor.
Pensquella Wangeci, Manager Juja City Mall in Kiambu county, Kenya, expressed his delight for the tech saying the T-Bin helped to inform customers on how to disposes waste and that it also offered free WIFI.
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This invention will surely help Kenya deal with plastic and waste management. In addition to banning the manufacture and use of polythene bags in 2017, the government introduced a ban on single-use plastics in “protected areas” in 2021.
But according to the sales and marketing director of plastic packaging manufacturer Packaging Industries Limited in Kenya, the demand has not been shut down and plastic bags are still illegally imported from neighboring countries such as Uganda or Somalia.
