MlimaLoop Ltd · Arusha, Tanzania · Est. 2026
Sixteen billion bottles a year. Three per cent come back. MlimaLoop is the infrastructure that closes the gap — and the people paid, by name, to close it.
The problem is not demand
East Africa generates millions of tonnes of plastic waste a year and almost none of it comes back. It chokes waterways, cities and soil — while the world's brands are paying a premium for exactly this material, certified and traceable.
The infrastructure gap is the opportunity. The bottles are there. The demand is there. What is missing is the loop that connects them — and the people paid fairly to close it.
A collector picks a bottle off a roadside in Arusha, scans it into the app, drops it at a mobile buying station, and is paid on the spot. Every time. No middleman, no waiting, no discretion.
The technology
LOOP is the street-facing brand collectors actually use. Every weigh-in lands once and is read three ways — as a collector's earnings, as a depot officer's queue and batch, and as an investor's provenance trail. Same data, same ground, different density.
Five vehicles run scheduled mobile buying stations today, so collectors never travel far — scaling toward a fleet of 120 as sites roll out. At every visit they sell a basket of materials — PET, HDPE, aluminium, cardboard — at published, honest prices.
Feedstock is being collected and stored on site right now — bought at $0.165/kg, already worth $0.40/kg at today's market price. The stockpile grows every day: an appreciating asset on the balance sheet before the plant switches on.
Inside the plant
Because feedstock stockpiles during build-out, the plant runs two shifts from day one — around 7–8 tonnes processed daily. Six stages, fully traceable, through to a food-grade reactor and a pilot yarn line.
Named collectors, app-logged, sorted by resin and colour.
Granulated and friction-washed; caps float off for PP recovery.
Caustic hot-wash to food-contact cleanliness; water recycled.
Twin-screw extrusion into uniform, sellable rPET pellet.
Solid-state upgrade to food-grade IV.
Value gateSample yarn for brand qualification and the textile route.
Non-food pellet sells immediately. Food-grade follows once certified — commanding premium, long-term offtake from beverage and FMCG brands.
The loop closes
The bottle becomes food-grade pellet and recycled fibre. What cannot be recycled becomes something else entirely — and the value keeps circulating in the community that collected it.
Food-grade pellet and yarn for global brands.
Jerricans and containers as a second product line.
Non-recyclable plastic plus sand, pressed into interlocking bricks.
Recycled composite sheets that outlast corrugated iron.
Why it holds
MlimaLoop is not a plant with a community programme bolted on. The community is the business — its collectors, its operators, its pride. As the network grows, so do the people and the cities around it.
42 fair, safe jobs per site — managers, operators, QC, drivers, security — across the network at full scale.
Informal collectors formalised, paid fairly and on time, building loyal income that spreads through tight communities.
Tonnes kept out of landfill, rivers and the Indian Ocean over 15 years — the Pangani basin cleaned at source.
The waste becomes the bricks. The bricks become the homes. The homes keep the collectors who brought the waste in.
Worker housing built from recycled bricks. School chairs and desks from bottle caps. A formal economy where there was none.
The roll-out
One proven model, rolled out city by city. Arusha is the blueprint; every site after it is a copy of a system that already works — reaching 12 operating sites across Tanzania.
The economics
After Arusha is proven, each new site is paid for out of cash flow. The investor funds the first plant; the model does the rest.
News & insights
Updates, milestones and thinking from the team building East Africa's circular economy — published from Arusha.
The infrastructure gap, the regulatory tailwinds, and why 2026 is the moment to build.
Read article ›A walk through the stages of the pipeline, from flake to food-grade pellet.
Formalising the collection economy — why it matters commercially and socially.
Contact
We are actively speaking with investors, ESG-aligned funds, NGO partners and global brands verifying their recycled supply. If you are serious about the circular economy in Africa, we want to hear from you.
The ask
The collection network, the app and the licences are built and paid for, and feedstock is stockpiling on site. The founder has already deployed $750,000. The placement funds the equipment order and running costs through build-out — then the business funds its own national roll-out.
First close $3M, rolling to a $10M cap. Minimum $25,000.
From the mountain to the world
Every bottle is a resource. Every loop closed is a profit and a livelihood. If you are serious about the circular economy in Africa, build it with us.