THE DOW INITIATIVE, Project Butterfly, is helping innovative solutions take flight to fight Africa’s plastic waste challenge. In Nairobi, Kenya, the program funds and facilitates waste clean-up activities, education campaigns, and new ways to incentivize recycling. Just as a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, the project is reshaping mindsets, communities, and plastic waste in areas plagued by pollution and poverty.
A stagnant river clogged with trash. Air choked with toxic fumes from burning waste. Contaminated drinking water. Disease spreading through communities. Nairobi’s exponential growth and lack of waste infrastructure in struggling neighborhoods is poisoning people, the environment, and spiraling out of control.
Dow’s Project Butterfly initiative in Africa unites residents, NGOs, government agencies, educators, community leaders, and manufacturers in unique partnerships to combat the crisis. By forging these crucial collaborations, the effort helps bridge the gap between recycling buy-back centers, sorting facilitators, collectors, and recyclers. Often, it provides the first opportunity for residents to harvest waste and use it to generate wealth by collecting, sorting, and selling it to recycling organizations where it will be repurposed in a circular, renewable loop. Read more…
