Christian Mwijage is the founder and executive director of EcoAct Tanzania, a business that upcycles plastic waste into durable timbers. Prior to founding EcoAct, Christian worked at a beverage company—witnessing firsthand the amount of waste that was created. Unsatisfied by what he saw, Christian began thinking through how he could recycle these items, sparking his idea for EcoAct. 

TANZANIA’S WASTE CRISIS

According to a study by IUCN-EA-QUANTIS, 215 thousand tons of plastic waste were generated in Tanzania in 2018, and only 4% of it was collected for recycling. EcoAct is working to increase the recycling rate by taking the community’s plastic garbage, melting it with natural beeswax, and turning it into durable, termite-resistant plastic timbers. 

To encourage recycling and create sustainable income for his community, Christian offers compensation to households who give their post-consumer plastics to the business. Further, EcoAct recently launched Garbage Medical Insurance—a micro health insurance program where uninsured individuals can use the funds from their recyclables to cover health-associated costs. From this program, Christian hopes to reduce Tanzania’s child mortality rate by 35% and expectant mother mortality rate by 65%. 

ECOACT IN THE BECAUSE ACCELERATOR

Christian was a part of the Because Accelerator’s spring cohort in 2022.

“My favorite part was training, especially pitch training,” said Christian. “I was able to know and learn a better way to tell our company story and attract more partnerships, as we’re now looking forward to working with UNHABITAT in developing affordable housing materials.” 

In addition to forging a partnership with UNHABITAT, since graduating from the Because Accelerator, EcoAct has also partnered with Coca-Cola to conduct a monthly beach-cleaning, where all collected plastics are taken back for upcycling.

During the Because Accelerator’s pitch competition, Christian won third place and was awarded $1,000 for his business. 

“[With the winnings,] we are looking to locally fabricate our machine parts so that we can improve the production capacity from 40 plastic timbers per day to 120 per day,” said Christian. 

The Because Accelerator is a completely free online training and mentorship program for entrepreneurs who have product-focused ideas and businesses in areas impacted by poverty.