Esther Fawole
Charles Tembo who resides in Luska in Zambia is making a great impact in his country by converting plastic bottles into building blocks.
Charles Tembo decided to go into the recycling of plastic bottles because of his ambition to become an engineer and his other reason was to keep the capital clean because the capital was always littered with so many bottles, glasses and other waste.
In Lusaka where he lives, there is indiscriminate disposal of bottles, glasses and other waste, this inspired him into recycling all waste into something meaningful and to clean, free bottles and glasses from his residents.
Although his innovation was yet to yield much monetary reward but he remained unshaken in his quest to keep the environment clean, provide jobs to others and eventually reap the rewards of success in the long run
After Charles Tembo launched his project, he has gone on to invent a machine that he is using to crush the bottles and glasses into smaller particles which are later mixed with cement and used in blocks.
The machine he invented runs on both solar and electricity. When it is running on solar, the machine is able to crush one to two tons of bottles and glasses per day and when it is running on electricity, it has the capacity to crush five tons per day.
The invention of the machine was fueled by his ambition to be able to crush bottles and glasses at an industrial level. He also have great plans to expand his idea to other parts of Zambia but he needs more fund because the country’s environment agency has welcomed his idea, saying that his innovation needs to be supported.
