From landfills turning into looming mountains of trash, fast fashion piles up in deserts, and plastic pollution collected on beaches getting dumped back into the ocean — it’s clear we’re not managing our waste well at all.

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The majority of global waste ends up getting incinerated or piled up in landfills, streams, and eventually our oceans. Besides the horrifying statistics of trash in oceans (the amount of which outweighs all fish combined, according to Conservation International), the problem with garbage is that we fundamentally think of it as “out of sight, out of mind.” 

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According to the World Bank, the world generates 2.01 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, with at least 33 percent of that—extremely conservatively—not managed in an environmentally safe manner. Worldwide, waste generated per person per day averages 0.74 kilogram but ranges widely, from 0.11 to 4.54 kilograms.

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In Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi, an estimated 2,400 tons of solid waste is generated every day, 20% of which is in plastic form. Poor waste management, coupled with rising urban pressure, have heightened the risks of environmental degradation in the city of 4.5 million people.

Of the waste generated by the city, only 45% is recycled, reused or transformed into a form which can yield an economic or ecological benefit, a far cry from the 80% target set by the National Environment Management Authority. In other cities the recycling part is just but a dream. In most countries, solid waste management operations are typically an institutional responsibility.

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At CREWAN we want to take the fight for better waste management to the people, focusing on a bottom-up approach where the people can do something small for the greater good. By educating citizens on proper waste management disposal and simple recycling methods for everyday items like bottles, old clothes, milk packets, used tins and any other waste material that can be turned into a form of art.

This not only helps reduce the amount of waste disposed but it also keeps people conscious on how to upcycle various forms of waste in an artistic nature.

Every action matters.