Letititia Ngeini

A Kenyan environmental activist pioneering plastic waste solutions in Africa

Letititia Ngeini is a Kenyan environmentalist and founder of the Kenya Plastic-Free Coastal Initiative, a grassroots movement that has mobilized over 50,000 volunteers since 2015 to combat plastic pollution in coastal regions. Her innovative approach combines community education with entrepreneurship, training locals to transform plastic waste into useful products like furniture and building materials. This dual strategy not only reduced marine debris by 40% in key areas but also created 800+ green jobs. In 2018 she secured a UN Environment Programme grant to scale her model across East Africa. Ngeini's advocacy led to Kenya's 2017 plastic bag ban legislation, which inspired similar policies in Uganda and Tanzania. She regularly collaborates with organizations like UNEP and gave a TEDx talk (link) viewed over 2M times.