|
A Community Cooker,managed responsibly and operated for a year
will save the caloric heat equivalent of burning 2,400 mature trees in a year.
More than 80 percent of Kenya’s urban dwellers, many of
whom live in poor, informal settlements, use charcoal made from wood as their primary source
of energy, according to government statistics. Their heavy dependence on wood for fuel has
contributed to the rapid decline of Kenya’s forests, with negative effects for the
local climate, wildlife, water sources and forest dwellers, says the World Rainforest
Movement.
In March 2011 the Community Cooker in Laini Saba site was
tested for stack emissions and residual ash. The results show that the Community Cooker has
combustion efficiency of 99 per cent and that the levels of SO2 , NO2 and heavy metals
detected fall within the regulatory limits of United States EPA and World Bank IFC
guidelines. These Results also meet Kenya Air Quality and Waste Management Standards.
Environmental Measure Report NRB1152-009421 March 2011.
|
The locals in the Laini Saba village in Kibera have been instrumental to the success of the
activity.
This came as a one-time solution for not only our waste management problem but for so many
other related issues as well. Free usage of the Community Cooker is given to anyone from
Kibera slum who shows up with a sack of garbage.
The greatest thing about the cooker is that it is much cheaper than buying charcoal or
kerosene, which are the most commonly used fuel sources in the slum.
The Community Cooker offers resourceful slum dwellers a fuel source that is far less
expensive than wood fuel, charcoal, gas or kerosene, and very much less expensive than
electricity and reduction in Acute Respiratory Infections due to household air
pollution.
The activity employs seven young people who sort the solid waste in Laini Saba Kibera.
|
The pilot phase has been such a success there are hopes of replicating it all over the
extensive slum.
An NGO called Jhpiego an affiliate of John Hopkins University
are putting up a Community Cooker at Eastleigh,Nairobi and offering technical advice to the
Community Cooker being put up by Longonot Fairtrade horticultural company at Karagita Slum,
Naivasha, Rift Valley Province. The Community Cooker has received interest from a variety of
organizations.
|
