Africa Innovates Magazine - Flipbook - Page 59
Photo credit: Briquette du Kivu
To address the social, environmental
and health issues in his country, Murhula
Zigabe created the Briquette du Kivu.
“This waste causes
malaria and diarrhea, the
main causes of maternal
and infant mortality in
my region.”
Murhula Zigabe,
Briquette du Kivu founder & CEO
WASTE & RECYCLING
GREEN COOKING
PREVENTS
DEFORESTATION
IN DRC
Almost everyone in the Kivu region uses
charcoal for cooking and wood as their
main source of energy, which contributes
to deforestation and air pollution that
causes respiratory disease. Seeking to
address poverty, reduce waste, and
limit deforestation, Murhula Zigabe, a
philosophy student from Bukavu in South
Kivu, began producing eco-friendly
charcoal from organic waste in 2018.
Each year, the Democratic Republic of
Congo loses 500,000 hectares of forest
to wood use, which accounts for 90% of
energy consumed in the country.
Consequently, this drives up the price of
charcoal, significantly impacting African
households who, according to the
International Solar Alliance, spend 30% of
their annual income on energy.
Green charcoal
has
proved
a
useful solution: it is less expensive for
households, less toxic to health, and less
harmful for the environment.
To produce it, Mr. Zigabe and his team
of students collect garbage from the
street and the market, dry it in the sun and
then burn it in a furnace built especially
for the project by local artisans, and finally
transform it into green charcoal, which
after drying is then sold to households.
Photo credit: Briquette du Kivu
“Green charcoal prevents
destruction of the country’s
forest, which is the second
lung for planet Earth. Green
cooking also cleans up the
city, prevents malaria and
diarrhea, and creates green
jobs.”
Murhula Zigabe,
Briquette du Kivu founder & CEO
CréditBriquette
photo : xxxxxxxxx
Photo credit:
du Kivu
SHOWCASING AFRICAN CLIMATE CHAMPIONS
59
