As the global fashion industry adopts more environmentally friendly materials, a creative enterprise in Kenya is repurposing waste pineapple leaves into shoes.
According to pineapple farmer James Kinuthia, “in the past we would burn or throw away or replant pineapple suckers.”
Later on, we had a meeting with Pine Kazi, a corporation. We charge them 15 Kenyan shillings (USD $0.092) for each sucker we sell them.
In addition to providing the farmer with additional income, it also generates employment as workers sort the leaves and extract the fiber, which is subsequently spun, dried, and woven into textiles.
Pineapple fiber has been used for a long time, but because it requires a lot of labor to create, it has recently suffered in the age of synthetics and inexpensive cotton.
Nonetheless, as the fashion industry and customers place a greater emphasis on sustainability, the concept is becoming more well-known worldwide.
Olivia Awuor, the CEO and co-founder of Pine Kazi, stated that the company typically produces 766 million tonnes of post-harvest pineapple leaves per year, which are either burned or chemically broken down.
Thus, she explained, “we reduce carbon and methane emissions by 0.28 metric tonnes for every 1,000 tonnes of waste we collect.”
Betterman Simidi, the creator of the public sanitation advocacy group “Clean Up Kenya,” stated that sustainable materials could play a role in addressing the nation’s obsession with “fast fashion.”
Kenya imports thousands of tonnes of used polyester apparel annually due to its low cost and easy accessibility.
According to activists, this apparel pollutes the environment when it ends up in landfills and waterways.
“When we witness developments, such as the production of fibers suitable for garments utilizing discarded pineapple, or other ecological materials, we are impressed. We must support these technologies because they are significant,” Simidi stated.
Pine Kazi is a social enterprise that employs people from the neighborhood.
“We use these textiles to make eco-friendly fashion products like bags and shoes while giving vulnerable members of the community meaningful and sustainable employment,” Awuor stated.
However, the inability to produce the shoes and bags in sufficient quantities is due to inadequate machinery and a lack of proper research and development laboratories.
Pine Kazi continues to have high hopes for the future despite this, having already drawn interest from investors and received praise for its sustainability characteristics.
In order to address the issue on a worldwide basis, Awuor hopes to expand the project to other nations that also generate pineapple trash.
