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 Emmanuel Manirakiza shifts into first gear as he guides a rubbish truck up a stretch of steep meandering terrain. The tarmac eventually tapers into a pothole-ridden dirt road as the surrounding vegetation gives way to swathes of decomposing rubbish. It’s the apocalyptic finale to a journey that has taken Emmanuel from the picturesque serenity of Kigali’s well-to-do area of Kimihurura, across the undulating beauty of the city’s northern reaches and eventually to Nduba, the city’s enormous landfill.

Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, is a remarkably clean city. The country has been an environmental pioneer since it introduced a complete ban on plastic bags in 2008. This policy along with the introduction of practices such as Umuganda - a monthly event where citizens are expected to devote around three hours of physical work to clean up their local community – are often cited as reasons for the city’s pristine appearance. But it is also a testament to the dedication and efficiency of the city’s waste collection companies.

Agruni LTD, the company that Étienne works for, is responsible for collecting household waste from thirteen of Kigali’s thirty-five sectors. The government grants them contracts per sector, after which representatives from the company are responsible for negotiating agreements with each individual household. The prices are staggered according to household income, ranging between 1,000-5,000 Rwandan Francs per month (around £1 - £4.50).

The efficiency with which the truck sweeps through its sector is nothing short of impressive. A regiment of eight workers, all with different roles flank the truck as it cruises along spotless streets. When the vehicle pulls to a stop, there’s a surge of activity, as men sprint to haul rubbish bags left out on the immaculately cut grass onto their shoulders, others collect payment and issue receipts, any spillage expeditiously swept up. Once the truck is full, the driver heads north of Kigali to the Gasabo district and the landfill.

The chaotic scenes at Nduba as hundreds of workers scour the mountains of waste attempting to bring order to the disarray, bring the seamless efficiency of the waste collection to an abrupt end. Nduba landfill was originally intended as a transitional solution for Kigali’s waste collection, after the earlier Nyanza dumpsite was deemed by the government in 2011 to have failed the standards of a sanitary landfill. But eight years later there is no sign of a new landfill and Nduba now suffers from many of the environmental and public health problems that blighted its predecessor. 

Diogene Mitali, the managing director of Agruni LTD is, as always, impeccably dressed as he sits in his office. He exudes calm, undeterred by the clamour from the crowded Nyabugogo market below as he receives a steady stream of phone calls. It was a few years ago that Agruni LTD identified the sorting of waste as the primary concern at Nduba landfill where biodegradable waste is mixed with non-biodegradable waste. After seeing experts from abroad come and go, but little change, the management at Agruni LTD decided to take matters into their own hands “we thought, as Rwandans, we need to find a solution to this issue” explains Diogene Mitali. They decided the first step was to get their own workers to separate the plastics manually and store them at a privately leased area of Nduba dumpsite.

To save space they began to compress and sort the plastics on site. As word spread it became apparent that there was a real demand for sorted plastics, and it wasn’t long before they were selling sorted plastics to companies who would reprocess and resell them. Agruni LTD had just found a way to clear space and improve conditions at Nduba dumpsite, which is estimated to receive 300 tonnes of waste per day, using a method that made business sense.

Gad Samuel Habarurema works for Jardin Meuble, a Rwandan company that now uses Agruni’s plastic to produce garden furniture and piping. He sits on a garden chair by the store’s main entrance, as he looks out across a busy street to the Wakanda Villa Bar behind which lies Kigali International Airport. As a salesman he appreciates the fact that the ability to purchase plastic at affordable prices can provide added advantages for customers “our products can now come with a lifetime guarantee, if your table is damaged you can simply bring it to us, and we can replace it”. 

Business is going well for Jardin Meuble since they started to use recycled plastics and they now sell around 300 chairs a day. The money they save from this process has resulted in more affordable furniture, with the smaller chairs going for 4,500 Rwandan Francs (around £4). Churches and bars are their primary customers, but recently they’ve began selling to businesses from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

Jardin Meuble now purchases extra plastic from the local community, offering 250 Rwandan Francs (around £0.22) a kilo. According to Gad Samuel Habarurema, the grassroots nature of plastic recycling in Rwanda has galvanised interest from the public sector “the government is looking to engage with companies like us now, to find out more and set up forums”. 

Agruni LTD have also noticed a growing interest in a waste-to-energy process that involves burning waste, collecting it as steam which in turn powers a turbine that creates electricity. This process also has the added benefit of clearing much needed space at Nduba landfill. They are now in discussions with local coffee companies and breweries.

There is still a long way to go admits Diogene Mitali. Agruni LTD are looking to purchase machinery from Belgium that will help them scale their business operations, but until then he says, “we will just have to separate this waste manually”.