Description of Challenge
The people of the Rift Valley produce 2400 tons of waste every day. This waste chokes rural and urban centers, and most is discarded at undesignated dumpsites that include rivers and roadsides.
Solution
OTEPIC (Organic Technology Extension and Promotion of Initiative Centre), has devised an earth-shaped orb that transforms useless waste into useful energy. Like compost, the ‘Earth Orb’ is another way in which we apply technology to reap benefits from waste.
OTEPIC-trained men and women collect the remains from charcoal cooking fires, carrying the still-combustible stuff on their backs. They then mold the fragments into balls of 250 grams (about 1/2 pound) each with corn cobs mixed with pyrethrum plant that improve combustion at the core of each black orb and also pyrethrum plant when burnt chases away mosquito help to curb Malaria. The balls are left in the sun for several days to dry. The finished orbs burn very well and are a marketable product.
Using Earth Orbs encourages recycling, creates a use for solid waste,reduces deforestation, and curb malaria. Makers are often women, the elderly and youth–people most in need of income.
Our project always takes the Earth Orb process from village to village to teach people how to make them. As people begin using the orbs, it will reduce over dependence on firewood, hence protecting the environment.
Teaching others how to make Earth Orbs will create income sources and could spur people to organize themselves for the betterment of their communities in the manner we at OTEPIC are doing.
The Earth Orb project will inspire change at its most effective level–on the ground, spurred on by villagers who care deeply about the health of their communities, their local economies and most of all, their place on the planet.
