Nkhata Bay-based youth-led organisation, Youth Towards Development, is turning waste to produce plastic pavement blocks and eco-friendly briquettes.
The group says it produces the briquettes using sawdust and rice husks obtained from farmers and sawmilling offshots across the district.
The group’s programmes manager Ethel Mwafulirwa said the group started producing the briquettes as one way of responding to the energy challenges affecting people in the district.
Mwafulirwa said the group also ventured into pavement block manufacturing using plastic wastes mainly collected on Lake Malawi beaches as one way of responding to waste management challenges haunting the country.
She said currently, the two innovations are helping people around Chintheche and Sanga access cheaper energy and building materials while helping conserve the environment.
Said Mwafulirwa: “We started doing this few years ago after noticing challenges people were facing here to access cheaper energy options and of course building materials and I am glad that now whatever we are doing is really helping to respond to those challenges.”
She said the group collects waste materials such as plastic papers that are mostly dumped in Lake Malawi and washes up across beaches.
“The plastic papers are then melted and mixed with sand before being moulded into a pavement block. So, using this process, we are able to produce a durable pavement blocks capable of withstanding harsh conditions,” said Mwafulirwa.
She said currently, the group supplies the blocks to several companies across the district.
“We are not getting more orders as we would have wanted mainly because what we are doing is relatively new,” she said.
However, the group makes more profits through briquettes as people have now grown accustomed to them.
The group’s innovations have attracted the attention of the National Youth Council of Malawi (NYCOM) which through its Executive Director, Rex Chapota has promised financial support to boost its business.
