So it’s been many months since this website was created and I have not had the time nor inclination to update the blog on a regular basis. This is a pity and I am already regretting it, but let’s see if I can catch you up on what has been happening on the ‘waste’ side of things.

Characterising Waste

After exploring the research topic of waste management in informal settlements for several months, I finally had a break through when the municipality conducted a waste characterisation study of the greater Stellenbosch area. This included Enkanini, the informal settlement that the group is doing its research on. The results of this study showed an overwhelming percentage of waste generated in the informal settlement is food waste, also referred to as organic or kitchen waste. Not that this was a surprise as it confirmed what other studies had already found out, however, it led me to focus on one category of the waste spectrum. I also felt that food waste was one of the more pressing issues in the settlement as this is the waste that starts rotting, thus attracting pests and so with pathogen carriers, and therefore becoming a relatively bigger threat to people’s health and well-being.

Food waste

I have seen quite a number of articles in the media recently referring to the incredible amount of food that is wasted (many of these referring to the United States, but assuming that this is the case for many developed nations) and how our landfills are filling up at an alarming rate due to all of this rubbish that could actually be diverted and processed in such a manner that it has a useful second life. The fact that we (collectively in the world) waste far too much food is currently not the point I am trying to make. Instead, the fact that the majority of this food lands up in a landfill where it creates even more problems through emitting GHGs and contaminating ground water is socially and environmentally irresponsible.

The Pilot Project

At the end of 2012 I conducted a pilot project in Enkanini with the help of our 3 co-researchers that live in the settlement. The pilot included 100 households that were each issued a Bokashi unit. Bokashi is a product that has it’s origins in Japan and is basically wheat bran inoculated with effective micro-organisms. Sprinkling Bokashi over food waste allows the waste to be stored for a number of weeks (even months) because instead of the food waste rotting it ferments. Essentially the food waste is being pickled. Not only does this allow for faster composting (if this is the chosen final processing method) but it also eliminates the unpleasant smell of methane that is associated with rotting food waste and it keeps flies and other pathogen carriers away. When I refer to a Bokashi unit, in this case that consists of two 25 litre buckets which are stacked, the inside one with holes drilled into the bottom to allow for liquid drainage, a lid to ensure the process remains anaerobic, and the Bokashi bran itself.

The unit was handed out to 100 voluntary participants/households which were asked to separate their food waste into these buckets, treat it with Bokashi and then to bring the buckets to a particular location within Enkanini once a week. At this location my team and I dumped the contents of the 25 litre buckets into larger drums to continue the fermentation process for a while longer. The participant got her empty bucket back and was able to collect some more bokashi if hers had run out. This continued for 9 weeks and during this time we collected close to 4.5 tonnes of food waste which we mainly processed through lasagne method composting.

Response

The response from the participants was overwhelming. Some had to walk over very difficult terrain carrying a bucket that weighed sometimes up to 24kg. The participants were scattered all around the settlement so some had to walk a lot further than others. Yet they all came to bring us their food waste. The word about the project spread and we had a continuous demand from non-particoants to join the project. There was even a lady who just started bringing us her waste using an extra bucket she had and getting Bokashi bran from her neighbours. When we told people that the project was coming to an end and we would like to have the buckets back people were actually upset that they couldn’t carry on.

Collaboration

The project was made possible through collaborating with a local private company – Probio, which supplied the Bokashi at a highly discounted rate, and the municipality, which financed the Bokashi and the buckets. Our main objective for this study was to assess the response of the participants in regards to this processing method and the accompanied behaviour change this required. Along with this we wanted a real-life experience of the challenges this method would present in terms of logistics and infrastructure needs in this particular setting. Seeing as Enkanini is informal I need not say much on the lack of existing infrastructure.

Informality

Due to the lack of infrastructure we had to be extremely flexible, and our project in many ways was as informal as it’s environment (when I say ‘we’ I am mostly referring to the co-researchers Victor, Sylvia and Yondela, and myself). Because of the informality and flexibility the project asked of us, it required a lot of energy input. This paid off because the response from participants was extremely positive. We had almost 100% participation rate right up to the end of the project. The feedback was enthusiastic and a lot of people told us that the main benefit of using Bokashi is that it seemed to keep rodents away from their shacks. The food waste was now contained in an airtight space and this made a huge difference to the rat infestation in a shack.

Where to from here?

Due to the successful response we are looking at taking the project into a second phase. For this to happen we need better infrastructure and more financial support. We are still in the process of figuring out how to take this forward. The idea is to include a different processing method of the Bokashi food waste for the second phase. This would be in the form of Black Soldier Fly (BSF) larvae. On more info for BSF copy and paste the following link into your browser: http://www.blacksoldierflyfarming.com/index.php?option=com_jusertube&view=lightbox&rid=bMkyE-SbwhE&yuser=PLWHg3f1i4hU5-Zl76vOdNKq7SjIaCb6o5&auto=1&eh=385&ew=640&st=yes&height=500&width=680&srztb_iframe=true

Black soldier flies are quite amazing little creatures, but that is a story for another day. For now I hope I have given an adequate enough overview of the Bokashi project to date.

Thanks for your interest in the project and if you’d like to know more feel free to post questions or post some feedback. You can also find my contact details in the ‘contact’ section of the website.

Vanessa

We have been working with residents from Enkanini, with Stellenbosch Municipality officials and technicians as well as private sector technology partners to conceptualise alternative sanitation solutions for Enkanini and other informal settlements in Stellenbosch and beyond. The sanitation systems which have emerged as potential strategies involve biological filtration of wastewater on site so that biogas may be harvested for use in household cooking and nutrient rich liquid fertiliser may be harvested for micro-agriculture.

In addition to researching optimal technical responses to sanitation, we have embarked on a mutual learning process with residents and the municipality to try to figure out new ways of governing these alternative technical systems. We think that if sanitation systems can be operated, maintained and repaired by local residents who are trained in the required skills to undertake these productive activities then (i) the systems are likely to function more continuously and effectively compared to current systems and (ii) the financial flows associated with these activities can be devolved to the local level, so  that subsidised sanitation capital becomes a productive asset for low income communities to operate the assets in perpetuity and in doing so stimulate local economic flows.

These pages document our trans-disciplinary research process in blog format. The pressures leading to and outcomes of inadequate sanitation are understood differently depending on who you ask. We hope to integrate alternative perspectives in order to develop a shared understanding of the challenge. This is a critical precursor to collaboratively defining alternative solutions.

Although the community is unable to pay for collection services, the municipality has included Enkanini in their collection route. Collections, however, are not always performed as scheduled. Sometimes waste is not collected for over a week which means it lies in the sun or rain, putrefying and becoming more of a health risk as each day goes by. Children, who often use their creativity and imagination to fashion toys from discarded materials, are particularly at risk. The refuse also increases the risk of fires spreading easily throughout the settlement. Lastly, the environment is adversely affected by the illegal dumping and unintentional spreading of waste.

The challenge lies in finding a waste management system that will prompt behavioural changes within the community in that they actively participate in the collection scheme. This will require engagement between the municipality, the community, and perhaps even the private sector to deduce the common problem statement and from there to co-produce a sustainable waste management system that leads to a cleaner and healthier environment.

So, rather than relying only on conventional ways of service delivery such as electricity derived from fossil fuels or dealing with illegal connections, the implementation of clean, affordable renewable energy such as solar PV may provide an alternative for basic electricity needs. Needs such as lights, cellphone charging, TV /DVD and refrigeration can be supplied through a microgrid that is cost effective, decentralized and locally operated. Such a microgrid is cost effective since the electricity supply is through direct current or DC. The implication of a DC current versus an alternating or AC current is that the latter involves high-energy losses through an inverter in order to support AC appliances. So converting appliances to DC format cuts the inverter out and reduces PV panel and battery size. The microgrid is decentralized in that the energy producing “factory” is on your own roof in the form of a photovoltaic (PV) panel. It is locally operated in that a resident takes care of maintenance and repairs where he or she is compensated with money that derives directly from user’s service fees.

Taking these factors into consideration, the Informal Settlement Upgrading Group has come up with the concept of the Improved Shack or iShack. The material is locally sourced and modular in design for quick and easy assembling. Cardboard and tetra pack are used for insulation between the zinc outer layer and the interior. The incorporation of an adobe wall made from clay and hay located at the back of the shack, acts as a temperature regulator whereby the sun’s rays are absorbed through the north facing windows and released at night for a warmer interior. A roof overhang ensures a shaded front and the slanted roof enables rain water collection. These technical improvements are just some ecologically designed principles that can be applied incrementally to a shack to improve comfort and security.