City slum residents cash in on charcoal

From left: Women mix charcoal dust, water and soil to make charcoal briquettes in Kibera slum. Ms Felistas Asiko dries the fuel, which is considered clean and safe for use in poorly ventilated households. Photos/ Sarah Ooko  Nation Media Group

By SARAH OOKO

In Summary

• In Nairobi alone residents use 700 tonnes of charcoal per day. Out of this, about 88 tonnes of charcoal dust are produced daily as a result of breakages during transportation and while handling them.
• Burning of charcoal dust is also not recommended as it releases toxic fumes that pollute the environment.
• Dr Mary Njenga, a consultant on biomass energy, environment and resilient livelihoods at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), who has conducted extensive research on briquettes in Kenya, adds that unlike normal charcoal, briquettes burn without smoke and dangerous emissions.

Beneath the succession of brown rusty rooftops in Kibera slums, home to hundreds of thousands of Nairobi city residents, women voices pierce the air.

From a distance, one can hear occasional laughter, snatches of conversation, laboured breathing, and hasty movements of people at work.

A closer look reveals a group of about six women. Some are bending while others are down on their knees, with all hands rigorously making dough out of some black solid mass.

“This is a mixture of charcoal dust, soil and water. We want to bind it and make charcoal briquettes,” says Felistas Asiko, a mother of four, who like the others surrounding her, earns a living from selling the fuel.

Ms Asiko says that she initially sold maize but gave up after incurring losses regularly.

“However, since I joined this briquette making business, I have never looked back. My husband died but I can still afford rent, buy food, pay school fees and take good care of my children,” she says.

Ms Asiko represents a grim section of urban dwellers that are slowly embracing the briquette business, and consequently reaping the associated benefits.

“These briquettes enjoy a ready market as their cost is much lower compared to other sources of energy - charcoal and kerosene - that are used by most slum dwellers,” she says.

In addition, the widow says that they can never run out of charcoal dust, the main raw material for making the briquettes, since charcoal is still widely used in the city.

Indeed, a 2002 study conducted by the Ministry of Energy showed that charcoal is the principal fuel that provides energy for 82 per cent of urban households in Kenya.

This trend is similar in neighbouring countries such as Tanzania and Ethiopia where dependence on charcoal for cooking in urban areas is at 80 per cent and 70 per cent respectively.

In Nairobi alone residents use 700 tonnes of charcoal per day. Out of this, about 88 tonnes of charcoal dust are produced daily as a result of breakages during transportation and while handling them. The dust is often found at retail and wholesale stands where charcoal is sold. And this is expected to significantly increase due to population growth and rapid rate of urbanisation in the country.

Due to the magnitude produced, charcoal dust poses a major disposal challenge to traders. Some
charcoal sellers push the dust into open drainage systems which get blocked and cause dirt to clog up.

In the slums, the effects are often catastrophic. Blocked trenches will push contaminated water and all manner of toxic waste into people’s houses, putting their health at risk.

Burning of charcoal dust is also not recommended as it releases toxic fumes that pollute the environment.