Takataka Plastics’ Response to COVID-19 in Gulu, Uganda

In normal times, we would be working on scaling up our machines to transform plastic waste into construction materials and conducting community outreach programs to educate individuals about proper waste management practices in Gulu. However, due to the unforeseen challenges surrounding COVID-19, we are investing most of our time in supporting our community. We are making face shields for healthcare workers and promoting social distancing in public places among other initiatives to help Gulu fight COVID-19.

Our goal for 2020 is to scale up our recycling operation to create 30 local jobs and keep 9 tonnes of plastic waste per month from being burned in Gulu. We've been making wall tiles to sell to hardware shops and contractors, but when COVID-19 hit Uganda, we asked ourselves what can we do to help our community?

In the wake of COVID-19 in Uganda, businesses had to be put on hold following directives by the government. The directives restricted any business besides those within the food industry and health care from being operational. The impact has also been felt on institutions and organisations.

The shutdown of such key stakeholders in our endeavour to recycle more than 9 tonnes of plastic waste in Gulu has to a great extent affected our day to day operations. However, our team has dynamically devised ways to turn our resources and expertise at Takataka Plastics to helping our community by providing protective face shields to front line medical workers as well as assisting in other community initiatives.

Our prototype low cost face shield

Amidst all the strategies and measures set by the government, there still exists challenges especially within the local community and the health sector. Many Ugandans still lack concrete knowledge about COVID-19, especially how important the preventive measures are in reducing the risk of transmission. Furthermore the community lacks adequate resources to help curb the spread of COVID-19. Many households cannot afford hand washing facilities.

At the main market for example, hand washing points have been set up by the local government. However, due to limited knowledge about the importance of social distancing, people are overcrowded at the washing points. Takataka Plastics in collaboration with Hashtag Gulu devised a simple way to improve on social distancing at the market. We painted markings for people to stand in line at least 2 meters from one another while waiting for the washing station. Our initial focus was on the main market because it hosts more than 3000 people in Gulu municipality every day.

Some of the medical workers who tested out face shields posing for a photoshoot with Takataka Plastics’s cofounder Paige Balcom.

Medical workers worldwide rely on masks to protect them. However, hospitals and health clinics in Uganda are woefully under-equipped to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. There is very little protective equipment for the medical staff. Doctors and nurses are asking for face shields, but they are not available in most hospitals. Only well-financed, private hospitals can afford them; the government-run hospitals and clinics do not have any protective face shields.

After identifying this gap, we embarked on research and design of face shields. Our face shield prototype has already been appreciated by both the health workers and other stakeholders. We presented some of the face shields to the District Health Office and a local clinic for trials and have received extremely positive feedback. One doctor even said he needs them in his hospital tomorrow.

Jacob Wokorach, our mechanical engineer trying out one of our prototype face shield

Through the power of social media, Plasticpreneur, a social enterprise in Austria, saw our work and shared with us the current developments they have in production of face shields. The solution they presented is vital in not only production of face shields but also experimentation with different medical products that we are exploring. We are currently working towards shipping a machine that will see a great reduction in the cost of producing the shields for the health workers. 

In this time of crisis, everyone needs to come together and offer their respective talents to help our communities fight COVID-19. At Takataka Plastics, we are grateful that we can play a small part in helping protect our front line medical workers in Gulu.