Whether or not some governments recognise (or act upon) the importance of creating a closed loop for plastics, people from various parts of the world are clearly itching to do something about plastics waste – the “FlipFlopi project” was a case in point. Precisely that has made a cyclist in Uganda come up with his own system to recycle plastic waste in his tiny section of Nsambya in the country’s capital of Kampala.

From being a professional cyclist and painter to now earning his means through recycling plastic, 32-year-old Gerald Ndashimye says he has fallen in love with recycling plastics waste, which he does in a small shop in Nsambya, with plastics collected by residents of Kampala, who he pays for deposits. Ndashimye now manufactures roof tiles, floor pavers, outdoor chairs and fencing poles from the recycled plastics, by recycling around one tonne of waste per day.

In fact, the enthusiastic cyclist was reported by local media as saying that he prefers putting up a fence made of recycled plastic around his house, instead of the traditional wooden one, because plastic ones don’t run the risk of being eaten by termites!