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C. Nabukalu and R. Giere
fuel has also led to increased attention to various types of waste as
secondary raw materials. For example, where stringent laws prohibiting
tree harvesting are enforced, other industries can provide raw materials to sustain production. Around Liberia’s Firestone rubber plantation,
charcoal producers use scrap rubberwood from organizations that cut
trees for rubber manufacturing as raw materials in the earth-mound
kilns (Alfaro & Jones, 2018). In Zambia, Pesa (2017) reported on the
production of charcoal pellets from sawdust, which was obtained from
commercial factories. These pellets were marketed as the newer and more
sustainable charcoal to be used on Improved Cook Stoves (ICS), and they
were intended as an alternative for cooking in order to radically displace
charcoal made from fresh trees.
In Kenya and Uganda, agricultural waste such as bagasse, banana
peelings and coffee husks, is being used to produce charcoal, thus
leading to the emergence of a new waste management industry and
youth entrepreneurship (Mugo & Ong, 2006; Stassen, 2015; Oluka,
2016). For instance, Uganda’s Green BioEnergy Ltd (GBE) attains an
average monthly production of over 35 tons of charcoal briquettes from
household food waste (Oluka, 2016; Beard, 2014). Similarly, the use of
agricultural waste to produce charcoal briquettes, alongside other energy
alternatives like biogas, was also observed at a small scale in Egypt, where
an equivalent of up to 5 Megatons oil equivalent (Mtoe) per year of the
country’s agricultural waste is channelled to energy production (IRENA,
2018).
When land is cleared for other economic activities, such as agriculture,
Uganda’s charcoal producers channel waste logs to charcoal production,
which thus became a secondary form of land use (Nabukalu & Gieré,
2019; Muzaale, 2013). Charcoal briquettes from waste are often traded
alongside ICS in the interest of cleaner, and more efficient cooking (Pesa,
2017; Beard, 2014; Mwampamba, Owen & Pigaht, 2013). Although
increasingly common, the production of charcoal from waste materials
has not been taken advantage of at a large scale, partly due to lack of
financial capital to start or expand small-scale waste-to-charcoal enterprises (Pesa, 2017; IRENA, 2018; Alfaro & Jones, 2018). Moreover,
charcoal production continues to prevail inexpensively due to informal
practices that make taxation hard, thus attaining lower market prices for
C. Nabukalu and R. Giere
fuel has also led to increased attention to various types of waste as
secondary raw materials. For example, where stringent laws prohibiting
tree harvesting are enforced, other industries can provide raw materials to sustain production. Around Liberia’s Firestone rubber plantation,
charcoal producers use scrap rubberwood from organizations that cut
trees for rubber manufacturing as raw materials in the earth-mound
kilns (Alfaro & Jones, 2018). In Zambia, Pesa (2017) reported on the
production of charcoal pellets from sawdust, which was obtained from
commercial factories. These pellets were marketed as the newer and more
sustainable charcoal to be used on Improved Cook Stoves (ICS), and they
were intended as an alternative for cooking in order to radically displace
charcoal made from fresh trees.
In Kenya and Uganda, agricultural waste such as bagasse, banana
peelings and coffee husks, is being used to produce charcoal, thus
leading to the emergence of a new waste management industry and
youth entrepreneurship (Mugo & Ong, 2006; Stassen, 2015; Oluka,
2016). For instance, Uganda’s Green BioEnergy Ltd (GBE) attains an
average monthly production of over 35 tons of charcoal briquettes from
household food waste (Oluka, 2016; Beard, 2014). Similarly, the use of
agricultural waste to produce charcoal briquettes, alongside other energy
alternatives like biogas, was also observed at a small scale in Egypt, where
an equivalent of up to 5 Megatons oil equivalent (Mtoe) per year of the
country’s agricultural waste is channelled to energy production (IRENA,
2018).
When land is cleared for other economic activities, such as agriculture,
Uganda’s charcoal producers channel waste logs to charcoal production,
which thus became a secondary form of land use (Nabukalu & Gieré,
2019; Muzaale, 2013). Charcoal briquettes from waste are often traded
alongside ICS in the interest of cleaner, and more efficient cooking (Pesa,
2017; Beard, 2014; Mwampamba, Owen & Pigaht, 2013). Although
increasingly common, the production of charcoal from waste materials
has not been taken advantage of at a large scale, partly due to lack of
financial capital to start or expand small-scale waste-to-charcoal enterprises (Pesa, 2017; IRENA, 2018; Alfaro & Jones, 2018). Moreover,
charcoal production continues to prevail inexpensively due to informal
practices that make taxation hard, thus attaining lower market prices for