In Uganda, the COVID-19 pandemic has shut down nearly all operations. One essential business that has remained open is Takataka Plastics, a social enterprise in Gulu focusing on recycling plastic waste. Paige Balcom, a Fulbright scholar from the University of California, Berkeley, who is studying for a doctorate in mechanical engineering, and Peter Okwoko, a Ugandan environmental and community activist, teamed up to create the company. Initially, it was founded to tackle Gulu’s extreme waste problem as the nearest recycling center was six hours away. They started by creating building materials such as roofing tiles and pavers in 2019, but in March they turned their efforts to supplying face shields for Uganda’s doctors.

Mask-making process  

To create the masks, the only materials needed are plastic water bottles, two days and an adjustable strap. First they sort through the plastic, shred it, melt it and shape the liquid plastic into face shields and frames, using locally made molds to do so. The plastic cools and sets, and the masks are ready to distribute. Balcom and Okwoko were able to create a prototype in three days that they sent to a local hospital, and the product quickly received approval with only small adjustments needed.This simple process gives Takataka Plastics the capacity to produce 400 units of the badly needed personal protective equipment each day, and orders from local hospitals have already flooded the business. 

Protecting a community 

Takataka Plastics’ face shield is a momentous invention in a time when personal protective equipment for hospitals is being rationed and reused. They have created a simple, cost-effective product that can be widely distributed. The handmade face shields from their center cost just 80 cents, but they have not stopped trying to lower the cost. As they receive multitudes of orders from local hospitals, Balcom and Okwoko have since ordered machinery that will allow for the manufacturing of 400 shields per day at a cost of only 25 cents each. With an abundance of plastic waste to create the shields, hospitals in Uganda will soon be equipped with proper protections thanks to Takataka Plastics. 

More than face shields  

This plastic recycling company has made great strides since shifting production in March. Upon releasing the prototype, Takataka Plastics has received incredibly high demand for their shields. Because of the disruption of personal protective equipment supplies, Ugandan hospitals need these recycled masks more than ever. While accomplishing this feat, the company has also allowed the community to come together in a very special way. 

Upon her first visit to Uganda four years ago, Balcom noticed how deeply ravaged the country was from the presence of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan rebel group led by Joseph Kony. Starting in 1987, his group waged a deadly, almost 20-year campaign against the Ugandan government. Often, the LRA would abduct children children for the army, forcing them to work as child soldiers, porters and “wives,” sex slaves and LRA fighters. She and Okwoko knew their company could provide a safe place for healing, so they opened their doors to volunteers and workers of any kind. They have five full-time staff members and employ individuals from the community in order to allow them a space for healing from the trauma brought on by the LRA. 

According to Takataka Plastics’ website, the company plans to continue its work and expand into a “full-scale plastic processing operation that will create jobs and a cleaner, healthier environment in Gulu.”