But six days a week, this mother of seven and dozens
of others trek through a slum once controlled by gangs, and arrive at a
garbage processing plant where they spend the day sorting glass from
metal, and plastic from paper.
As one team dumps the recyclables into color-coded
bins, another gathers and rips discarded paper and cardboard into bits.
Using a technique that is as frugal as it is green — it requires little
more than water, sawdust, a wooden mortar, rusty 32-ounce tomato cans,
sawed-off PVC pipes and a locally made press — they crush wet paper
into slow-burning logs, a cheap alternative known as briquettes.
With 20 million trees chopped down each year in
an over-reliance on charcoal has created a barren nation with less than
2 percent of tree cover. Environmentalists and others say these factors
have made
The Obama administration’s
pledge last week to protect the world’s tropical forests — a critical
move toward breaking a stalemate between rich and poor nations in
climate change talks in
For a country like
where back-to-back hurricanes and tropical storms cut a deadly path
last year, projects like turning garbage into energy, while small, are
in the vanguard of efforts to slow and reverse deforestation.
“I am not saying it’s a panacea for deforestation,
but it’s one of the activities that if multiplied can have an impact,”
said Joel Boutroue, formerly the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for
In Carrefour Feuilles, where residents are leading
the battle to wean Haitians off wood, there is no doubt about their
role in a country where at the slightest bit of rain, bare mountains
trigger deadly landslides.
“People have been using charcoal a long time, and we
know it’s not going to be easy for someone to leave charcoal,” said
Sejour, 36, who lives in the
The community-driven solid waste processing and recycling project was conceived in
four years ago in response to a Haitian government request to help it
reduce violence and provide jobs in this densely populated slum where
even U.N. peacekeepers feared entering.
Today, it is not just providing jobs to 385
residents and turning trash into energy, but it’s also gaining momentum
and attracting the attention of everyone from former President
Celebrities took notice of the pilot project, dubbed Love N’
after it was named one of 12 finalists in the British Broadcasting
Corporation World Challenge ’09 global grant competition. For weeks,
entertainers such as Wyclef Jean, his sister Melky, and actresses
“I have always said: ‘It is up to us, the Haitians
abroad, to rally support and raise awareness and funds to help
eradicate poverty in
Their efforts were joined by others, including embattled former city of
For a while, the efforts appeared to have paid off
after the eco-friendly project won enough votes to place it among the
top three finalists. Then
being disqualified because its investigators failed to realize that the
government funding exceeded amounts set out in contest rules.
Charcoal is the main fuel source for households, bakeries and rum distilleries in
As a result, a number of fuel alternative programs, including the
fabrication of briquettes, have been tried through the years with
limited success.
The efforts have struggled to take off for various
reasons, including the affordability of charcoal by a population living
on less than
But Carrefour Feuilles stands out because it’s community-driven, said
“We are giving the residents the opportunity, but they are the social mobilizers,” Nicolini said.
Clinton agrees. After visiting the program this summer as U.N. Special Envoy to
He carries a sample of the logs, which resemble
frozen hamburger patties, almost everywhere. After pulling one out of a
Ziploc bag and showing it off at a recent gathering, he said: “It’s a
way to fight environmental damage, put people to work. It’s the kind of
thing that has the capacity to sweep the world.”
While the fabricating of the briquettes has garnered
the most attention, it is just one aspect of the project, which is
funded by
and the UNDP. In a country where waste management often means allowing
the rains to carry the trash across the city to the sea as uncollected
garbage piles up on major roadways, the project also aims to keep
Carrefour Feuilles clean.
While workers make the briquettes, teams of
blue-clad sweepers and waste collectors fan the neighborhood, shoveling
garbage and dumping it into wheelbarrows and roaming garbage trucks.
There is even door-to-door garbage collection.
For now, the recycled plastic, metal and glass is sold.
Soon the organic waste will be processed into compost and sold to farmers for fertilizers.
With the help of local
the project hopes to become self-sustainable. The goal is to have the
revenues generated through the sales of the recycled products, compost
and briquettes cover the operating costs and the salaries of the
residents who make
Recently, workers added a new job description: sales
people — after undergoing training on how to market the logs that sell
cheaper than charcoal.
To demonstrate, Sejour walks over to a tiny table
and shows off the product: on one side, a gallon of rice, half a gallon
of beans and two gallons of charcoal. On the opposite side: 22
briquettes.
The charcoal, Sejour says, costs
take time, but they are already seeing benefits. Among the regular
wholesale customers buying briquettes: charcoal vendors.
“We are not here to put them out of business,” he
said. “A lot of people who sell charcoal … are searching for
survival. Just like everyone, they are searching for a way to survive.”
Via McClatchy-Tribune News Service.
