Waste to Worth: 300 kilos of discarded denim, one collection, a new hub
Mto Wangu Initiative and Enkilla Afrocouture launched the Kenyan Upcycling Innovation Hub on Saturday. Mto Wangu collected the 300 kilograms of denim from Dandora and the Mathare River. Artisans in the Mara cleaned the material, cut it and rebuilt it into shoes, bags and a full collection. Guests from the Mathare and Mara communities, government, the private sector and conservation groups filled the hall from eight in the morning.
The hub works in Mathare, Kibera and the Mara. Mathare is a dense, mixed urban settlement in Nairobi, with youth groups organised along the river and a deep base of makers and small enterprises. The Mara is Maasai rangeland and conservancy country, with artisans, herders and conservation groups working the same landscape. The denim travelled from one to the other and came back as product. Young people in both places are organising around waste, and the hub connects that work to a market.
Three Kenyan groups make up the Hub: Enkilla Afrocouture runs design and production in the Mara, the Mto Wangu Initiative runs collection and community organising in Mathare. Nane Experience runs glass recovery and skills training in Kibera. Between them they now share infrastructure, buyers and one point of contact for partners.
The hub turns textile waste into apparel and merchandise that sells. That connects to SDG 11 on cities, SDG 12 on consumption and production, SDG 13 on climate action and SDG 17 on partnerships. Each of those goals needs trained artisans, and is measured in products sold, incomes earned and tonnes of textile waste kept out of the rivers.
A cultural welcome and traditional prayer opened the programme, followed by the story of the denim. Dan Kijabe and Mzee Tinai gave the keynote addresses. A panel then worked through what circular economy solutions need in order to run at scale.
“Creativity is power when it builds people, communities and a cleaner planet.”
Around twenty artisans moved the denim through sorting, disinfecting, design, cutting and finishing. Maasai beadwork and design went onto fabric the global clothing trade had thrown out.
“In Maasai culture, nothing is wasted. We add our beadwork and design to what others discard, turning it into fashion that carries our identity to the world and income home to our women.”
Groups already working on waste and land in the Mara came to the launch. Jacob Kasoe founded the Green Army Foundation, which mobilises youth around Sekenani to clean the area bordering the reserve.
“I believe the Mara can be green again with a clean environment.”
Faith Adoyo is a director for the Hub and works out of Mathare, supporting the collection of the denim and the desing of the clothing.
“We turn waste into possibility, creativity into livelihoods, and community ideas into action.”
George Gachie co-founded the Hub which collected the denim from the Dandora dumping site and transported it to the Mara.
“Transforming spaces, empowering communities, building a sustainable future.”
The afternoon ran through an upcycled footwear showcase, recognition for the models and artisans, a networking lunch and a vendor marketplace. Partnership announcements closed the formal programme.
Samed Ağırbaş, COP31 Climate High-Level Champion and President of the Zero Waste Foundation, sent a letter of congratulation to the founding members, reflecting on the the idea the hub was founded at their booth at the Zero Waste Forum and Festival in Istanbul in June.
“I commend your entrepreneurial leadership in advancing zero waste through the Hub, which is generating employment and income for young men and women by transforming discarded materials into valuable products.”
Two new hubs are being launched on the same model, each run by a local organisation: an indigenous hub by Museo Viviente Otavalango in Ecuador and a high school hub in the Centre for Sustainable Transformation in Ghana. Both are developing concept notes. The hub carries the work to COP31 in Antalya in November.
Rethink. Rescue. Recreate. Empower.
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