Community driven low-cost sustainable waste management system at its best:
The Community Cooker

Waste → Energy = Value

The Community Cooker Foundation (CCF) is a Kenyan based charity that promotes sustainable waste management by encouraging institutions, people, and communities to incinerate their “no-value” rubbish in Community Cookers. Jiko ya Jamii is a Kenya based company that builds and promotes Community Cookers commercially.

The Problems

Trash pickers often represent the lowest economic class and most marginalized population in society throughout the World. It’s no different in Dandora, Kenya. A man from the neighboring slum of Korogocho hefts his last bag of trash for the day in hopes of selling the mostly rubber scraps for $.50 USD.

Rubbish

The amount of solid waste generated is rising each year while the amount being responsibly disposed of is decreasing. In Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, approximately 3,000 tonnes of rubbish is generated daily but only 900 tonnes reaches the overflowing city dumpsite.  Improper disposal leads to contamination of water, soil and air which leads to increased morbidity and mortality, especially among the urban poor.

Greenhouse gases

Increasing greenhouse gases, such as methane and CO2, contribute substantially to climate change. The common practice of open burning of waste, whether in a dumpsite or on the side of the road, emits high concentrations of CO2 into the air. Methane, produced during the natural decaying process of discarded rubbish, has a shorter lifespan but has been estimated to have as much as 80 times the impact of CO2
open-burning scaled

Deforestation

People cut down about 15 billion trees each year. According to a study done by Green African Foundation, Kenya alone loses 5.6 million trees daily. The cost of cooking gas is increasing yearly, making it unaffordable and essentially out of reach for many. Thus many institutions understandably opt to use charcoal or firewood. Both of these unsustainable sources of heat energy not only impact biodiversity, but also increase the level of harmful gases in the atmosphere, further compounding the impact of climate change in our lives.

A Solution

The Community Cooker is a waste-to-energy technology that burns “no-value” rubbish environmentally correctly at 800-1200 degrees centigrade generating heat energy for cooking, baking, and heating water. At these temperatures, the Cooker achieves 85% combustion efficiency and meets European Environmental Standards, American EPA Standards and Kenyan Standards for Nitrogen Oxides, Sulphur Dioxides, Carbon Monoxides, Furans and Dioxins emissions as tested by Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS).

How it works ⟩

Benefits

  • Meets international standards for solid waste emissions
  • Incinerates up to 30 kilos of dry rubbish hourly
  • Saves over 85% of previous cooking fuel costs in schools
  • Meets WHO standards for incinerating medical waste
  • Heats 2,000 litres of water at a time
  • Bakes 10 loaves of bread at a time in add-on oven

Suitable for

Waste Management Centers

The Community Cooker provides safe incineration of the ‘value-less’ rubbish with over 85% combustion, reducing 300 kg of waste to half a bucket of ash

Schools

The Community Cooker provides heat energy for cooking and baking for students and staff, saving at least 85% of previous cooking fuel costs

Hospitals

The Community Cooker meets WHO standards for incinerating medical waste while providing heat energy for cooking inpatient food and providing hot water and steam

To Date

Cookers built
0
Calorific equivalent of mature trees saved
> 0
Tonnes solid waste incinerated
> 0
Tonnes CO2 emissions avoided
> 0