Celebrating 8 Years of Recycling Plastic and Changing Lives 🙌🏿
- Andy Teale
- Oct 1
- 3 min read
Back in September 2017, we officially opened our doors as Masaka Recycling Initiative in our CEO & Founder’s back garden in Masaka, incentivising people to bring us their plastic in exchange for cash. The aim was to address the plastic pollution littering the area, while creating accessible job opportunities.
Over the weeks, our CEO Andy Bownds eventually accumulated two tonnes of plastic, which was then transported all the way to Uganda's capital city, Kampala, to be recycled into new plastic bottles. The concept had potential!
From here, with the help of our other two Co-Founders, Fr James Ssendege & Gee Elliott, we secured some land in Masaka and (very) gradually added new machinery to the site to build Masaka’s first plastic recycling factory. This allowed us to recycle tonnes of plastic ourselves and create different Eco-Products, which is when we rebranded as Eco Brixs.
Back then, alongside the three founders, we only had five part-time staff members!
Over the years, we’ve gradually grown Eco Brixs and its impact, adding more machinery and growing the team so we can recycle more plastic every month. And as we buy all the plastic from the community, more recycling means more jobs for the community!
As of September 2025, we’re proud to share that since our founding in 2017, we’ve:
Cleaned up and recycled 3,293 tonnes of plastic waste
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Created accessible plastic collection job opportunities for 17,200+ people
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Generated an average of $26,600 per month for the local community in exchange for plastic waste
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Employed 100 full-time Ugandan staff at our Recycling Factory and surrounding Buy Back Centres across the districts
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Created inclusive work opportunities for marginalised communities in Uganda, including women, young adults, refugees, and people with disabilities
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Created a range of 20+ Eco-Products based on the principles of the circular economy
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Expanded our model across Southern Uganda by establishing recycling facilities across Masaka, Mbarara, Isingiro, Fort Portal, and Kalangala
We are extremely grateful for this journey and the support of countless people along the way—a huge thank you! Looking ahead, we plan to continue expanding our programme across Southern Uganda and begin establishing our impact in the North by the close of 2026.
We look forward to sharing the next chapter of our impact with you as our plans unfold in the coming months!
VOTE FOR US IN UGANDA’S SOCIAL ENTERPRISE AWARDS
We’re thrilled to have been shortlisted for this year’s Ugandan Social Enterprise Awards!
The awards are run by FUSE (Federation of Ugandan Social Entrepreneurs) and span nine categories that aim to recognise and celebrate the outstanding achievements of the country’s social enterprises, showcasing their impact, innovation, and commitment to sustainability.
Eco Brixs is one of five organisations shortlisted in the category of ‘Social Enterprise of the Year’. We hope a win will help us demonstrate the scalability and impact of our work, so in the long run we can help more people with our recycling model.
Would you like to help us win the award?
The award is decided by online votes, which only takes 2 minutes and requires just an email address, whether you’re based in Uganda or beyond. Just visit FUSE’s website here, enter your email, and vote in as many (or as few categories as you like). Then, to complete the process, just enter the code that was emailed to you when you first entered your email address at the start.
We’re proud to be nominated amongst some huge names in Uganda and really hoping to win this award. You can vote for Eco Brixs here.
Voting closes on 3rd October at 23:59 (EAT).
8 YEARS OF WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITY TO CREATE IMPACT:
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