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Green stoves relying on food waste, recycled materials to address deforestation, pollution
19 / 08 / 2019
By
Marwa Nassar
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Agricultural engineer Judith Djaonaiel and Mani Yezid, a student at Burkina Faso’s International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering in Ouagadougou, came up with a new kind of stoves that depend on food waste and recycled shipping containers and boat parts. These stoves – which have not been patented yet – would curb deforestation and pollution in Burkina Faso where many use multifuel stoves.
They were moved by the idea that many refugees in Burkina Faso didn’t know how to use gas for cooking, and preferred using coal and fire wood.
Wood is the dominant fuel used for cooking in rural households, accounting for more than half of Burkina Faso’s energy mix. Only around 18 percent of the population has access to electricity, and indoor pollution causes an estimated 16,500 premature deaths every year.
At the same time, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that around one third of Burkina Faso’s productive land—around 9 million hectares—is degraded, and this area is expected to increase every year.
“Problems related to cooking energy are added to those related to malnutrition in camps,” said Yezid. “In cases where immediate action is needed, following a natural disaster or just after an influx of refugees, humanitarian organizations need to react promptly. At the start of interventions, food security is often a priority.”
There are energy-efficient stoves and briquettes made from non-wood products available, reducing deforestation and cutting harmful indoor pollution. But when he teamed up with agricultural engineer Judith Djaonaiel, the pair realized more local solutions were needed.
“We hope that our eco-charcoal fireplaces can help families to cook food they are provided with in the camps, in an environmentally sustainable way, while also helping women carry out other income-generating activities like selling cakes and other foods,” said Djaonaiel.
The duo founded Green Brikstove using their expertise and combined passion to work with communities in Ouagadougou and the surrounding area to test their products. The briquettes are made purely from food waste, and the efficient and quick-cook stoves are made from recycled shipping containers and boat parts, which they get from the ports of Lomé in Togo, Cotonou in Benin and Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
“We love innovation and we are bringing our contribution to help vulnerable communities,” said Djaonaiel.
The new stoves are still being tested and is yet to be patented, but results are already proving successful with the local community.
“We got the idea by being in the market, and realizing that people throw left-overs or food which is going off away. We started using the food waste to make a prototype and now we have an agreement with people in the market. They bring the waste, we use it to cook and make into dried briquettes, which we give them back to use.”
Currently, Green Brikstove processes about 10 kilograms of food waste a day from the market. Preliminary tests show that the briquettes are more efficient in combustion compared with charcoal, reducing harmful emissions.
“We are still in the process of testing the briquettes as an alternative to wood fuel and also gas, which is often used in the refugee camps and can be misused by people who have never used gas before. We really are interested to improve the lives of women, especially those in rural communities,” Djaonaiel noted.
Already, the duo has noticed an interest in the stoves on the social media platforms where they have been showcasing their product, in Togo, Benin, Niger, Côte d’Ivoire and Mali. But it will be another year before the stoves are ready to hit the market.
United Nations Environment Program’s Switch Africa Green supports micro, small and medium enterprises, including start-ups, to transition to sustainable consumption and production practices that promote green business development.
Patrick Mwesigye, UN Environment’s Regional Coordinator for Resource Efficiency in the Africa Office, said “In general, the impact of briquette production is three-fold. Environmentally, communities around briquette production often benefit from the clean-up of waste in their compounds, along the roads and garbage dumping sites.”
“Economically, local enterprises producing briquettes like these report income increases, and socially, such entrepreneurial developments can reduce the impact of indoor air pollution on the health of women especially, while creating green jobs—and a notable increase in employment for women and youth.”
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