Youth group joins green energy shift by turning fruit waste into charcoal

By Hellen Mdinda

Kahama. A youth group in Kahama has found an innovative way to contribute to Tanzania’s clean energy transition by producing charcoal briquettes from discarded fruit peels and crop residues.

The group, known as Tamba, uses banana peels, sugarcane fibre, orange rinds and banana stems to make alternative charcoal, which is increasingly becoming popular among households seeking affordable and environmentally friendly cooking fuel.

“We have been doing this for three years, but we still rely on basic tools, which means it takes two to three days to complete one round of production,” said the group’s founder, Tamba Yahya.

“From one batch, we get more than 100 briquettes, which we sell at Sh10,000 per bucket,” he said.

He appealed for government support to acquire modern machinery to speed up production. “If we had better equipment, we could produce more and reach more households,” he said.

Another member, Elisante Aniel, said the briquettes burn for hours without the need for frequent refuelling, saving users money and time.

“We pound the waste manually, mix it with water, and shape it into briquettes. The process is tough, but the results are worth it,” he said.

Users such as Sophia Temba, a food vendor, say the innovation is cutting their costs. “With ordinary charcoal, I have to refill two or three times, but with these briquettes I can cook for three to four hours before adding more,” she said.

According to 2024 data, Tanzania consumed about 45,000 tonnes of alternative charcoal last year, with more than 500,000 households using the fuel. However, nearly 85 per cent of Tanzanians still depend on firewood and traditional charcoal for cooking.

According to UN-Habitat, around 2.7 billion people globally do not have proper waste collection services, resulting in indiscriminate dumping. The agency notes that between 14 million and 20 million tonnes of waste are generated annually in Tanzania, mostly from major cities.

Dar es Salaam alone contributes about one per cent of all waste produced in the country. Globally, between 2.1 billion and 2.3 billion tonnes of municipal waste are generated each year, including textiles, packaging, electronics, plastics and food, according to UN-Habitat.