ELDORET, Kenya – It is now emerging that innovations that address people’s preferences and demands for cooking and heating energy might alleviate the workload for women and girls while preserving the environment, enhancing health, and ending poverty in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
A potential substitute for more expensive and environmentally friendly cooking and heating energy is the recycling of organic waste into fuel briquettes, which can also help to improve urban areas, create jobs, and generate income—especially for women and young people.
Fuel briquettes, often wood fuel, are energy comparable to firewood or charcoal.
Welcome to Eldoret town, the economic hub of the North Rift region. A youth group is now cutting a niche by turning organic waste into affordable fuel briquettes to reduce charcoal-related deforestation and earn income.
How much does the Eldoret youth group earn from charcoal briquettes
The Art Youth Research Centre at West Market transforms unmanaged organic waste into clean, affordable, and eco-friendly household cooking fuel.
“We sell a two-kilogramme bag of processed charcoal briquettes, popularly known as Makaa Poa Charcoal, for Sh30. A four-kilogramme bag goes for Sh50, a 50-kilogramme bag retails at Sh450, while a 90-kilogramme bag is sold at Sh1000,” said 30-year-old Nicholas Juma, the youth leader.
In Kenya, charcoal is a popular cooking fuel contributing to deforestation. Deforestation-related greenhouse emissions are not the only concern; the increasingly scarce wood supply has drastically increased the charcoal price, leading to urban energy poverty and economic coercion.
At the same time, many organic disposables are either left to rot (releasing methane, a potent greenhouse gas) or set on fire (creating environmental/health hazards).
Juma told Y News that manufacturing and selling the briquettes has empowered his fellow youths financially, as they have been able to support their families and cater to their personal needs.
“I can say that this business has empowered us financially. Some of us are now able to pay school fees for our children. This business also helps us avoid immoral behaviours and wasting our lives away,” the joyful Juma says proudly. Non-carbonised (fresh) raw materials, such as uncooked food wastes like banana peelings, maise cobs, and rice husks, can be used to make fuel briquettes.
How fuel briquettes are produced
To create fuel briquettes, biomass material is compressed into a solid unit using various methods, including manual or automated presses and machinery, with or without a binder.
Before being compacted into briquettes, the biomass materials can be carbonised and burned in controlled oxygen to eliminate volatile gases and liquids.
A binding agent is needed when making briquettes from raw materials with a limited agglomerating capacity.
Formed after the 2007/ 2008 post-election violence, the Art Youth Research Centre has over 20 members.
“After the violence that broke out following the disputed 2007 presidential elections, most of the youths lost their business, and we saw it fit to come together and see what we could do to get back to our feet. That is when we settled for this renewable source of energy project,” said Juma.
It is worth noting that cooking pots used when cooking with briquettes accumulate no soot and hence require less cleaning, improving hygiene and water use at the household level.
Why Art Youth Research Centre members work in shifts
At the Art Youth Research Centre, members have to work shifts to help each other make the briquettes owing to the high demand around the area.
Juma disclosed that only lazy bones would sit folding hands and say there is no job.
“I want to tell my fellow youths and everyone out there that there is a job opportunity where you are if you look keenly. All we do here is collect charcoal dust, which no one could have thought could be reused,” added Juma.
Y News has established that briquettes are a helpful alternative or supplemental energy source since they may be used in cook stoves that resemble those that burn wood and wood fuel.
More than 90% of people in SSA rely on firewood and charcoal as their primary household energy sources (IEA, 2006). Charcoal is used in urban areas, but firewood is used mainly in rural areas.
At the time of the interview, we were forced to keep holding on as customers could interrupt from time to time to buy the briquettes.
Most preferred the product over ordinary charcoal because it burns for longer and is half the price.
“The prices are fairer as compared to ordinary charcoal; these youths are really role models to both men and women around, for no one even thought of doing such a thing in this area,” said Janet Wangare, who had checked in to get a two kilogramme of briquette to use in preparing supper.
Who are Art Youth Research Centre’s notable clients
Juma said they were lucky enough to get hotels as their primary customers.
“Most youths don’t like manual jobs; they especially think that a job like this will make them dirty. It is high time that we realised that it is out of this dirt from which good money comes. I want to tell them we supply our charcoal to Sirikwa Hotel, Eldoret Hospital and other local hotels in Eldoret town,” he advised.
The youths use a powered machine to make the briquette.
“We collect waste such as corn cobs/husks, rice husks, sawdust, and bagasse from farms or markets and then mix it with soil and water. Dry it up for a few hours, depending on the weather, before putting it in the machine that uses electricity for processing, drying the product, and finally selling it,” explained Juma.
He indicated that the group had taken samples of their products to the University of Eldoret for research.
“Currently, we are working with the University of Eldoret to set production techniques and product standards. Our briquettes are also set to be tested by the Kenya Bureau of Standards before we start selling them to supermarkets and beyond,” he said.
What is the Art Youth Research Centre’s long-term goal
32-year-old Edwin Owino said the venture addresses greenhouse emissions from unmanaged decomposing waste and prevents deforestation by replacing wood charcoal.
“The ability to sell briquettes more cheaply than wood-derived charcoal, coupled with proven success in the beachhead market, will make our product attractive from other areas,” said Owino.
Owino says they plan to expand the project to create more employment opportunities for their fellow youths.
“Since this whole project is aimed at working with members of the society in the informal sector living around Eldoret, we seek to promote the livelihoods of the people living there, especially our fellow youths, by expanding our operations,” stated Owino.
He highlighted the need for more electricity as a significant challenge to their operations.
“We experience power blackouts on most occasions, thus affecting our work. Water rationing has also seen our work stall. When it rains, the briquettes get destroyed,” said Owino.
Former Uasin Gishu County Executive Committee in-charge of Water and Environment Conservation Mary Njogu said the County has 7.5 per cent forest cover and needs to surpass the country’s 10 per cent forest cover.
One of the leading causes of respiratory disorders is indoor air pollution, which is significantly decreased by the clean burn of charcoal briquettes.
It is evident that while Art Youth Research Centre members collect charcoal dust for briquette production, they earn money and protect and maintain the environment.
They are protecting their communities from hazardous garbage by extension.
