Plastiki Rafiki is a club / social enterprise started at the design lab that designs and creates unique products out of recycled plastic collected within the wider Kenyan community.

Plastiki Rafiki creates unique products using a range of plastic molding techniques as well as subtractive manufacturing processes. Our sister club Construction by Design builds all our machines (with the help of the Open Source Plastic Recycling Community) in the ISK Fabrication Lab.

The discarded plastic is collected throughout Kenya. However, rather than getting it from dumpsites, which would be the easiest, we try and focus on rubbish collection from natural areas. Places where rubbish has not yet taken over the environment, where collecting plastic waste can make a visible difference. We hope our actions can help keep these sacred natural spaces pristine and unspoiled and discourage other from polluting them.

Our “collections” are based on different locations where the plastic rubbish was collected. When you buy a Plastiki Rafiki product you know that you have helped clean up a specific area of Kenya. For example, a keychain that is part of the “Karura Collection” would have been made out of discarded plastic collected from the forest trails.

We are a non-profit student club and all our income goes towards the further development and design of low cost plastic recycling machines, product design, and the promotion of grassroots plastic collection and recycling in Kenya. Our ultimate goal is to replicate the Plastiki Rafiki model in other sites around Kenya, cleaning up our natural spaces and empowering local communities to earn an income though plastic recycling.

Clean up Kenya, protect your environment, say no to littering and single use plastics, and support Plastiki Rafiki!