Nicole Menemene - Bukavu's queen of recycling
In Bukavu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nicole Menemene is the queen of recycled plastic, A Congolese researcher and entrepreneur, her company transforms plastic waste into furniture, household ítems, as well as experimenting with the manufacturing of recycled plastic bricks. Her goal - to fight pollution and help build the local economy.
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00:00Welcome to Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
00:06Overlooking Lake Kivu, a moderate climate and lush green hills,
00:10the city was once regarded as Bukavu the beautiful.
00:15Sadly, the city is chocked with rivers of plastic, literally flowing into Lake Kivu.
00:23This plastic comes from all over Bukavu. This is where the source is.
00:27Bukavu welcomed the waste, so this is where it comes from.
00:31From plastic bags to bottles, the scourge of plastic pollution is ruining the image of picturesque Bukavu.
00:37Even worse, it contributes to the collapse of biodiversity.
00:41And this is a huge concern for Nicole Menemene.
00:46The fish that we eat ingests the bags that we throw into the lake.
00:50We go on to eat these fish.
00:52So we probably consume microplastics and end up slowly poisoning ourselves.
00:59Social entrepreneur Nicole Menemene was inspired by her hometown's struggles with plastic waste
01:04and founded the company Plasticore to turn trash into valuable items.
01:11My most ambitious dream, not in a year or five, but maybe in ten years or more,
01:17is to have a green and sustainable city where most of the materials used for construction is recycled.
01:26So since 2020, Nicole's workshop has been filled with the rhythmic clutter of tools
01:32and the contagious laughter of employees.
01:36We make furniture, armchairs, sofas, shelves, baskets, trash cans, flower pots, decorative objects.
01:44We have coasters and other wall decoration objects.
01:47We make them from bags, flower bags, sugar bags, as well as slippers.
01:54Her efforts have helped to make Bukavu cleaner, but not nearly enough.
01:58In December 2023, 26 people died after torrential rains flooded homes
02:04because the drainage tunnels were blocked by garbage.
02:07To scale up and recycle more, Plasticores began making plastic bricks.
02:13At the moment, we are experimenting with interlocking bricks made of 100% recycled or upcycled plastic.
02:20It's true that we took a risk and had some setbacks, but we now have two prototypes for our next product.
02:28This terrace, made almost entirely from plastic bottles,
02:32is the current crown jewel of Nicole's dream to turn plastic waste into something befitting the beauty of Bukavu.
02:39The dream of a sustainably run city may still be in the making.
02:43Yet Nicole Menemene's work so far has proven how much small companies with few resources
02:49but boundless creativity can do for the future of Africa's fast-growing cities.