The Wilderness Trust has announced Zimbabwe-based Ele-Collection as the winner of the second Wilderness Impact Challenge, awarding the innovative plastic recovery enterprise USD100,000 in financial support, alongside strategic guidance, to help scale its solution in Victoria Falls and beyond.
Selected from more than 80 applications and three finalists, Ele-Collection stood out for its practical approach to simultaneously tackling plastic pollution, creating livelihoods and strengthening the conservation economy. Based in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, the organisation employs women-led community teams to recover plastic waste from conservation-sensitive landscapes, before processing it into eco-aggregate for use in the construction industry.
Now in its second year, the Wilderness Impact Challenge was established to identify and support innovative, scalable solutions to conservation challenges across Africa. Guided by Wilderness’ three Impact pillars – Educate, Empower and Protect – the 2026 Challenge focused on Empower, seeking ideas that strengthen the conservation economy by creating meaningful economic opportunities for people living alongside wild places.
‘The Impact Challenge exists to support entrepreneurs with innovative ideas that address real conservation challenges,’ said Charles Douglas, Chairman of the Wilderness Trust. ‘This year, our focus on the conservation economy recognised that conservation and communities cannot be viewed in isolation. When we can uplift communities by creating economic opportunities linked to conservation, people are able to see and share in the benefits of protecting the landscapes around them.’
Turning Victoria Falls’ plastic problem into opportunity
Victoria Falls currently generates around 100 tonnes of plastic waste every month. With limited capacity to process this waste, plastic makes its way into surrounding wild areas, where it is ingested by wildlife, or is burned, releasing toxic fumes into neighbouring communities. Ele-Collection is working to change that by giving discarded plastic economic value. Its collection model creates income for local people who recover plastic, while its Victoria Falls factory processes the material into eco-aggregate – a lightweight construction material that can be mixed into concrete. The organisation currently processes approximately 30 tonnes a month, while supporting more than 40 collectors.
For Olivia Mufute – a Trustee of the Wilderness Trust, Impact Challenge judge and Zimbabwean conservationist – it was this ability to address environmental and economic challenges together that helped distinguish the winning project.
‘Ele-Collection stood out as an innovative and practical solution that simultaneously strengthens the conservation economy while addressing a major environmental challenge,’ said Olivia. ‘By converting large volumes of plastic waste into aggregate for the construction industry, the project offers significant conservation and livelihood benefits, with the potential to create jobs, stimulate recycling enterprises and generate new businesses linked to the circular economy.’
For Ele-Collection Co-founder Ben Norton, hearing the organisation announced as the winner brought both excitement and a new sense of responsibility.
‘When our name was called, I immediately knew what this could do for Ele-Collection and Victoria Falls,’ said Ben. ‘We can go from a pilot project, to something capable of tackling an entire problem. I felt elated, but I also felt a huge sense of duty. We now have the opportunity to make it happen – and we have to follow through.’
From 30% to 100%
Ele-Collection has already demonstrated demand for both sides of its model: companies fund plastic recovery, while construction businesses purchase the resulting eco-aggregate. Its biggest constraint is production capacity. The USD100,000 awarded through the Wilderness Impact Challenge will enable the organisation to invest in the processing infrastructure required to significantly increase the volume of plastic its Victoria Falls factory can handle.
‘There is no shortage of people – particularly women – who want to collect plastic and earn an income from it. Our bottleneck is what we can process,’ Ben explained. ‘This funding gives us the opportunity to upgrade our machinery and move from tackling just one-third of Victoria Falls’ plastic problem towards dealing with all of it. Our clean-up system is ready and our people are ready. Now we can build the processing capacity to match.’
The longer-term ambition extends beyond Victoria Falls. Ele-Collection ultimately aims to create a financially viable model that can process plastic from neighbouring communities including Livingstone and Hwange, before being replicated across other ecologically sensitive landscapes in the region.
‘Our first responsibility is Victoria Falls – this is our home, and we want to solve our plastic problem,’ added Ben. ‘But we have always seen this as a model that could go further. If we can prove that cleaning up plastic can work financially while creating livelihoods and protecting wild spaces, there is no reason it cannot be adopted elsewhere in the region. Winning the Impact Challenge is a huge step towards proving that.’
Recognising two exceptional runners-up
The Wilderness Trust also recognised the strength of the Challenge’s two other finalists – CLAWS (Communities Living Among Wildlife Sustainably) in Botswana and Wild Survivors in Tanzania – and is pleased to award USD25,000 to each initiative to support the continued growth and implementation of their solutions.
CLAWS is working with cattle farmers in Botswana’s Okavango Delta to improve human-lion coexistence through better herding practices and Africa’s first Certified Wildlife Friendly™ beef supply chain, creating stronger market opportunities for farmers who commit to coexisting with predators. Wild Survivors is addressing human-elephant conflict in Tanzania’s Serengeti ecosystem through women-led enterprise hubs combining beekeeping, regenerative agriculture and locally produced goods connected to tourism markets.
Together, all three finalists reflect the ambition behind this year’s Challenge: finding practical ways to make conservation economically meaningful to the people living closest to and in Africa’s wild places.
‘We feel the Impact Challenge is gaining real momentum,’ concluded Charles. ‘Beyond selecting a winner, it gives these entrepreneurs recognition and a platform for ideas that deserve to grow. Ele-Collection has developed something tangible, scalable and rooted in a significant local challenge. If it succeeds in Victoria Falls, we believe it has the potential to protect wildlife, uplift communities, and ultimately create impact far beyond where it started.’
The Wilderness Trust will continue to work alongside Ele-Collection as the organisation scales, documenting its progress and sharing the impact generated through the 2026 Wilderness Impact Challenge.
Those inspired by initiatives that help build the conservation economy across Africa can learn more about how to contribute to this work here.
The Trust extends its sincere gratitude to the Michael and Karen Stone Family Foundation for making this Challenge possible.
