This archive report was first published on 27 October 2019.
On October 11, 2019, Dennis Wachira, Peter Gachanja, and Melvin Kizito, the creators of Leafy Ke, emerged winners in the African edition of the Climate LaunchPad (CLP) competitions. The trio, who are Chemistry graduates from the University of Nairobi, beat 29 other finalists from across Africa with their innovation that turns used diapers and sanitary pads into cooking fuel.
Leafy Ke, as the group calls its startup, won a cash prize of $2,000 (Sh200,000) and will represent Africa in the Global Grand Finals in Amsterdam, Netherlands, next month. The competition was held at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies.
The idea to create fuel out of diapers was propelled largely by a common diaper menace that affected all three. As Wachira and his co-founders narrate, they had young nephews and nieces who used diapers. They observed first-hand the damaging impact waste diapers have on the environment, from their foul smell to the fact that they were eyesores, caused, in part, by irresponsible disposal and poor waste management.
“As chemists, we broke down the components of the diapers and thought of how we could transform them into something useful,” says Kizito. “We get diapers and sanitary pads from garbage collectors, clean them using detergent and high-pressure water, then chemically process them into a fuel gel. The gel is patent pending so we cannot disclose it yet,” Gachanja says.
After the process, Leafy packages the fuel gel into small cans, which can be used to heat food during catering events or placed in stoves to cook food. The same process obtains for used sanitary pads. “Our target market comprises people who cook using charcoal and kerosene. These fuels produce a lot of soot, smoke, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. The gel doesn’t produce carbon monoxide and has lower emissions of carbon dioxide,” notes Gachanja.
The trio were certain they had to take urgent action against the threat presented by the poor management of diaper waste. They approached the Kenya Climate Innovation Centre (KCIC), a non-governmental organization which sponsors both the national and African regional CLP competitions. KCIC visited their home and saw the setup, then advised Wachira to join the CLP programme so he could grow the innovation as it was still young.
