Religious institutions occupy a distinctive place in most Kasarani neighbourhoods — widely trusted, regularly attended, and centrally located within walking distance for many households. A handful of churches and a mosque within our service area have, over the past months, started hosting informal recyclable drop-off points timed around their weekly gathering schedule, and it's become a genuinely useful addition to how residents access our buy-back network.

How this arrangement came about

It started with a single church whose leadership approached us after noticing several congregants discussing plastic buy-back informally during weekly gatherings, and asked whether hosting a small collection point on the church grounds, timed around Sunday service, might make participation easier for congregants who found the trip to a fixed buy-back point inconvenient during the week. We agreed to try it, and the results were encouraging enough that we've since replicated similar arrangements with two other institutions, including a mosque hosting a point around Friday prayers.

Why the timing around religious gatherings matters

Much like our observation that boda boda riders fill a gap for households distant from a fixed buy-back point, religious gathering points fill a different kind of gap: convenience of timing rather than distance. A congregant already planning to attend a Sunday service or Friday prayers can bring sorted plastic along as part of a trip they were making anyway, rather than needing to plan a separate visit to a buy-back point on its own specific weekday.

How the logistics work

Our team visits each participating institution shortly after the relevant gathering to weigh and pay for plastic brought by congregants, following the same process and rates as our fixed buy-back points. The institution itself doesn't handle payment or storage beyond providing space for a temporary collection point during the gathering, keeping the arrangement simple for institutions that understandably don't want to take on an ongoing operational role.

What institutional leaders have said about hosting this

Leaders at participating institutions describe the arrangement as a low-effort, genuinely appreciated addition to their community offering — something that supports practical household needs without requiring significant institutional resources or ongoing management. A few have also noted that it fits naturally alongside existing community service and stewardship themes already present in their regular programming.

Why we haven't tried to expand this to every institution at once

As with our approach to commercial partnerships and cooking oil collection, we've grown this deliberately rather than quickly, working out the logistics with a small number of institutions before considering broader expansion. Each new location adds a stop to our team's schedule, and we want to be confident we can serve each reliably before adding more, rather than overcommitting and providing an inconsistent service that undermines the trust these institutions have extended to us.

What this has meant for participation among congregants

Early feedback suggests genuine new participation from congregants who hadn't previously engaged with our buy-back network, rather than simply redirecting existing sellers to a more convenient location — a similar positive signal to what we observed after opening the Githurai buy-back point. This suggests convenience of timing, not just proximity, is a meaningful barrier to participation that's worth continuing to address through partnerships like this.

What other institutions interested in a similar arrangement should know

  • Hosting a point requires only space and time around an existing regular gathering, not ongoing management or payment handling.
  • Our team handles weighing, payment and record-keeping directly, following the same process as our fixed buy-back points.
  • We currently work with a small number of institutions while refining logistics, but are open to further partnerships as capacity allows.

What made these particular institutions willing to try this first

In each case, the institution's leadership had an existing, visible interest in practical community service beyond purely religious programming, which made a low-effort, tangible offering like hosting a collection point feel like a natural fit rather than an unusual request. We suspect this openness, more than any specific outreach approach on our part, explains why these particular partnerships came together relatively easily compared to some of our commercial partnership discussions.

How we're thinking about long-term sustainability of these partnerships

Because these arrangements rely on institutional goodwill rather than a formal contract, we check in periodically with each participating institution to confirm the arrangement is still working well for them, rather than assuming a single initial agreement means indefinite continuation without any ongoing attention. This light-touch relationship maintenance has, so far, kept all three partnerships running smoothly well beyond their initial trial periods.

Frequently asked questions

How can a church, mosque or other institution start hosting a collection point?

Reach out to discuss whether adding your institution fits within our current team capacity and schedule.

Do institutions get paid for hosting a collection point?

No, the arrangement simply provides space and timing convenience; payment for plastic goes directly to the congregant selling it, following our standard buy-back rates.

Is this different from our regular fixed buy-back points?

It's an extension of the same buy-back network, timed around institutional gatherings rather than a separate fixed weekly schedule of its own.

See our full buy-back network and schedule on our programmes page.