MarkersSace Burundi, led by Gad Niyomukunzi, is committed to recycling plastic bottle waste in order to protect the environment. This company carries out its activities in Kanyosha commune of Bujumbura and has branches inside the country such as Gitega and Bugenyuzi.
What does this company do?They pick up plastics around and then recycle them into decorations made up of flowers and other things. “Waste composed of plastics cannot decompose even if years and years pass. As a result, they degrade the ecosystem and the atmosphere. To do it well, people could put this waste including plastic bottles in a common place to make it easier for us to collect them so that we can go and recycle them », says Gad Niyomukunzi.
They started in 2016-2017. « Me, I lived very close to the place where people threw garbage and also I was one of the volunteers. I saw that if they burn them they cause disorder in the environment and in the households, and afterwards, I addressed my opinion to my friends ”
Was it easy at first for them? No at all. It was not easy because some of them did not understand how to go and collect the waste when they are intellectuals, who have gone to school, fearing that they might be laughed at. Others saw this idea as a waste of time.
Previously they were 32 in number, but there are those who resigned and they remained 12. But, the more they developed the work sites, the more, the number rose and now there are 50. Some have gone, others have left because they did not understand it. “I had bought scissors and a razor blade to start the work”
Nothing is always easy. The members of the Markerspace Burundi encountered difficulties, in particular the tools which are imported because they are not found in Burundi. They don’t get customers easily. “Often people underestimate our products on the pretext that they’re produced from waste and that they are manufactured here in Burundi, which is why we have no customers. Some of our members who get discouraged fairly quickly resign. But, as a solution, it is better to work with courage and do it with a good heart,” says Gad
Makerspace Burundi company wants that in five years would buy collected plastics. They also want to have the plastics recycling industry and even to produce other products other than flowers. They also want to hold meetings with those concerned such as the government of Burundi and the Ministry of the Environment for the request for the ministerial decree granting permission to work officially in order to fight together for the protection of the environment.
Gad appeals to all the youth to work hard and be creative: “Work, don’t think it’s waste work, moreover, create your own job so that you never think of help from elsewhere.”
