Kenyan Social Entrepreneur Innovates Technology to Convert Water Hyacinths into Sustainable Products

(2 Minutes Read)

A young Kenyan, Joseph Nguthiru, has come up with a solution that started as a final-year university project. His company, HyaPak, is working with the fishermen, harvesting the plant and transforming it into biodegradable packaging

The region lying northwest of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, a few hour’s drive from the crowded city, is famous for its flamingos and hippos, making a lake their habitat. The lake is full of water hyacinths, which threaten the livelihoods of local fishermen.

Fishermen face the threat of their nets being caught among the water plants, making their fishing, their daily livelihood, difficult. That causes considerable losses to them, not alone for the repair of engines but also because the overgrown hyacinth affects the breeding of fish, affecting their catch.

Read Also:

https://trendsnafrica.com/women-weave-tapestry-from-discarded-imported-textiles-in-kenya-and-nigeria/

But now a young Kenyan, Joseph Nguthiru, has come up with a solution that started as a final-year university project. His company, HyaPak, is working with the fishermen, harvesting the plant and transforming it into biodegradable packaging. The plant is dried on site and then transported to HyaPak’s facilities where it is combined with binders and additives, which is then mixed and shaped.

HyaPak is already exporting to the United States and Germany, and it has plans to establish franchises in India and El Salvador, two countries that are also experiencing problems with the invasive plant.