Press release -
Edgar Edmund's award winning project shifted gears for the corona crisis
At the age of 17, Edgar started Green Venture Recycles, a company that normally converts waste plastic to building materials. As the corona virus intensified, they shifted their production to manufacturing visors and face masks for healthcare workers and school employees in Tanzania, Edgar's homeland.
Edgar Edmund was 17 years old in 2017 when he won the Children's Climate Prize for his entrepreneurial Green Venture Recycles. A company he started when he saw and experienced all the plastic and littering in nature in his native Tanzania. While educating others on the issue, he not only created a machine that would convert waste plastic into affordable building material but also many work opportunities. As the corona virus spread in the spring, Edgar felt the need to contribute and shifted his recycling center from producing building materials to instead producing face masks and visors. The project was a success and thousands of Green Venture Recycle's visors are now in use in schools and hospitals in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.
"Taking the step to start manufacturing face protection felt important. If we at Green Venture Recycles can help prevent the spread of the corona virus, we will of course do so," says Edgar Edmund in a comment.
Edgar received a lot of attention from the 2017 Children's Climate Prize and it opened up several opportunities. Among other things, Edgar has developed and scaled up his business and developed his entrepreneurship through studies. Edgar is also a valued lecturer who is often seen on scenes such as the African Circular Economy Forum and the World Circular Economic Forum, to name a few.
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Making plastic face shields from plastic packaging: Green Venture Tanzania
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The Children’s Climate Prize is an international prize annually awarded to children who have made extraordinary efforts for the climate and environment. The winners of the prize are celebrated at a gala event in November in Stockholm, Sweden. They receive a diploma, medal and prize money of SEK 100,000 to continue developing their projects. The prize is founded by Telge Energi, the Swedish frontrunner in renewable energy, and it is they, in partnership with Blueair, a world-leader in air purification, that are behind the award.
