Tanzanian recycling plant is retooling plastic bottles to face masks
Posted on : Thursday, 6th August 2020
A recycling plant in Tanzania has started making and selling plastic face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. The plant used to process and export waste paper to customers in China and India.
In recent weeks the business has made 6,000 units that sell for around two dollars each.
A recycling plant in Tanzania’s port city of Dar es Salaam has traded paper for plastic bottles and started making anti-coronavirus face shields that are being snatched up by hospitals and health centres nationwide.
New orders dried up as country after country imposed lockdowns to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, reducing global trade to a trickle.
Yet Kimambo quickly spotted an opportunity which allowed him to save his business and the jobs of all its 38 workers. Zaidi Recyclers switched to the production of face shields, a vital piece of personal protective equipment for health workers during the coronavirus pandemic.
I think key is to remain relevant. You should not panic, because these crises have been there, this is not the first time we are facing this kind of crisis, he said. If you panic, you will get lost and then you will not be able to come up or be active as you used to be before.
Orders are flooding from the health sector from across Tanzania, Kimbabo said. In recent weeks they had made 6,000 units that go for about $2 apiece. A recycling plant in Tanzania has started making and selling plastic face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. The plant used to process and export waste paper to customers in China and India.
In recent weeks the business has made 6,000 units that sell for around two dollars each.
A recycling plant in Tanzania’s port city of Dar es Salaam has traded paper for plastic bottles and started making anti-coronavirus face shields that are being snatched up by hospitals and health centres nationwide.
New orders dried up as country after country imposed lockdowns to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, reducing global trade to a trickle.
Yet Kimambo quickly spotted an opportunity which allowed him to save his business and the jobs of all its 38 workers. Zaidi Recyclers switched to the production of face shields, a vital piece of personal protective equipment for health workers during the coronavirus pandemic.
I think key is to remain relevant. You should not panic, because these crises have been there, this is not the first time we are facing this kind of crisis, he said. If you panic, you will get lost and then you will not be able to come up or be active as you used to be before.
Orders are flooding from the health sector from across Tanzania, Kimbabo said. In recent weeks they had made 6,000 units that go for about $2 apiece.
