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In the Central African Republic, an initiative by the association Action for the protection of the environment and development (Aped) has just been launched. It has embarked on two productions: an ecological charcoal made from agricultural waste and cobblestones from the recycling of used plastics. An activity for the moment artisanal.
The Aped courtyard is an open-air workshop. Pestle in hand, Julie crushes small black pebbles in a bucket after passing them through a sieve. The founder of the association, Jean-Maxime Blecho, explains how the products collected become sticks of coal about twenty centimeters long.
« When the women pay for a bag of charcoal, at the end there are residues. Instead of dumping them in nature, we recover it and transform it into ecological coal. Including agricultural waste, corn stover, peanuts, cotton stalks. Everything that is on the agricultural plots, we dry it after carbonization, he explains. We’re going to grind, sift like the lady is doing. Associated with a binder like clay, we mix and then we will compact, dry. And after two days, three days, we can put on the market. It doesn’t smoke, it doesn’t blacken the pot. That’s the advantage of what I’m doing. »
Beneficial recycling for the city center
These charcoal logs, which therefore do not require cutting wood, will be sold for 300 CFA francs per kilo. It’s more than conventional charcoal. Jean-Maxime Blecho is looking for funding to buy a machine that would allow him to increase his production. Just behind him, a pile of plastic waste: bottles, basins, bags come from downtown Bangui. This waste will be transformed into balusters or cobblestones, the use of which would not hurt in the dented streets of the capital…
As long as you respect the proportions, Souvenance Divine tells us: “ To have a good pavement, we bring the waste. We clean them, we remove the earth to have a good quality. Once it’s dry, we put it in the metal drum, we put it on fire, the plastic becomes liquid then we add sand following the right proportion. We knead, we knead… until it is homogeneous. Then we put the dough in a rack or an oiled mold. After 15-20 minutes it is compact. Unmold and smooth the surface. »
First easy as a cake recipe, but dangerous due to hot splashes. Jean-Maxime Blécho would like more molds to make other building materials. He also wants the Central African Republic to follow other African countries such as Ghana or Burkina Faso, which have started to recycle their plastic waste. He is also working on a domestic gas project produced from kitchen waste.