In Tanzania, the coronavirus pandemic has prompted a recycling plant to change tactics – converting discarded plastic bottles into PPE that is being used in hospitals and health centres nationwide.

As reported by Reuters, the Dar es Salaam-based company (which recycles predominately paper for export to China and India) started producing PPE after being impacted by the global outbreak and subsequent international lockdowns.

Over the past few weeks, the company has produced some 6 000 face shields (retailing for about US$2 each); keeping the company in business and sustaining the livelihoods of its 38 workers in the process.

The latest data from Johns Hopkins University indicates that, to date, the East African nation has recorded 509 COVID-19 cases and 21 related deaths. Tanzania’s economic growth for 2020 is forecast to decline to 4% as a result of the outbreak.

9 June 2020
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