Recycling Scheme Helps African Children Have a Better Life

01 December 2014 by Daryl Tunningley

Cadishead company CSG Lanstar has pledged to donate £1,500 each year over a five year period to fund the secondary school education of 10 children living and working at the notorious Dandora municipal waste dump on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

The dump has been dubbed the ‘Mountain of Death’ after a United Nations Environment Programme research team found that almost half the children scavenging the dump looking for things to sell were suffering from high levels of sickness.

Money pledged by Lanstar will come from the proceeds of a recycling plant set up at the company’s Cadishead waste treatment centre where plastics, cardboard and wood which formerly went to landfill are now sorted and sold on for reuse. The company has donated £4,500 over the last three years.

It will be donated to the Tent of Refuge, a charity working with local Kenyan churches providing hot meals, mentoring, games equipment and school fees to over 100 children every week.

Typical of the children being helped is 13-year-old Paul who has received school books, uniform and shoes.

Cadishead site manager Jen Cartmell, who has visited the Dandora dump and spoken with some of the children about their life there, said scavenging for materials was the only source of income for impoverished local residents, including very young children.

“The Tent of Refuge is doing a wonderful job and working hard to give these children a chance in life by providing them with an education. But they face an uphill struggle and are always short of funds. By setting ourselves a target and guaranteeing to meet it, we hope to make a real difference to at least some of the children’s lives.”

Picture Shows Children Enjoying a Clean and Healthy Drink.