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Social Sustainability

The social wellbeing of the communities we work is at the heart of everything which is why we work closely with our partners to ensure that their needs are always put first.

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Economic Sustainability 

We are excited to see our projects bring economic opportunities to communities while preserving the quality of the environment for future generations.

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Environmental Sustainability

We are motivated to preserve the environment in which we live in by recycling plastic while ensuring we do not cause additional harm through our processes. 

Kilifi Recycle is an ongoing project between students at the University of Cambridge, Centre for Global Equality and Friends of Takaungu Creek with the aim of alleviating the plastic waste, which is a serious problem in the area because of pollution in the sea and no waste management infrastructure in village. The project focuses on turning plastic waste into affordable construction materials to create sustainable livelihoods for the community.

Our Approach

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Research and Development

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Collaborate and Build

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Continuous  Community Engagement 

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Takaungu, Kilifi

Takaungu is a village in Kilifi County, Kenya situated between Malindi and Mombasa. Lying along a creek leading to the Indian Ocean, the village boasts stunning beaches and clear waters. The 1500-strong community in Takaungu are closely connected and welcomed Kilifi Recycle with open arms. The village lacked a formal waste management system and was keen to collaborate with the team to devise a solution to compete with current building materials and their creativity, industry and generosity made it a great working and living environment for the team. At the end of the long days manufacturing the machines, Kilifi Recycle explored this stunning location with the villagers, creating many memories and learning about life in Takaungu.

Context
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Solutions

Technical Journey

As a team, we decided that to improve the production of bricks, we would develop a new shredder machine and improve the existing kiln. This resulted in the following overall process. First, shred PET plastic bottles, breaking them into small pieces to reduce the time and mass of fuel required to melt. Then, place these pieces into a kiln until melted, before mixing in sand to create a viscous mixture. Finally, extract the mixture to moulds where it sets to form bricks.

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1st Generation Kiln

The first kiln was designed to be simple and easy to build in regions with limited equipment and materials. It consisted of a 25L oil barrel cut in half and with the top and bottom surfaces rewelded together. This created a separation between the bottom half containing an open fire and the top half in which the plastic and sand would be melted and mixed. Initially tests showed that the bottom half the kiln was not sufficiently aerated to sustain a fire hot enough to melt the plastic. Thus, ventilation slots were added to the sides and base so that more oxygen could enter the design. However, these slots also caused a large amount of heat loss - addressed in the second generation kiln.
The doors and blades were cut from sheet steel and the latter welded to a long piece of pipe to form the chimney. The chimney could freely revolve on a smaller tube and would also act as the mixing mechanism for the kiln. The user revolves the chimney with in-built handles which also turn the blades and mixes the sand-plastic mixture. This was an effective method to combine the functions of the kiln however to ensure the fumes were carried far from the user, the chimney tube was heavy and hard to rotate due to its long required length. To accompany the kiln, tile moulds were manufactured out of sheet steel and rebar. These were greatly simplified relative to initial design due to the limited scope for complex manufacture in Takaungu. 

Our Supporters:

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Our supporters
The team
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Aleyna

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Egle

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Kailen

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Shiv

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Tse

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Zinzan

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