Co-processing: The way to a zero-waste industrial Kenya

Medhat Ismail, the head of the Middle East and Africa (MEA) at Geocycle.

The world generates around two billion tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, making waste management a major headache for both industrialised and developing countries.

Co-processing is a globally recognised sustainable technology through which waste is used as a source of energy to replace fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum and gas in energy-intensive industries like cement making. Geocycle, owned by Bamburi Cement’s parent company, Holcim Group, has been spearheading co-processing initiatives. Financial Standard spoke to Medhat Ismail, the head of the Middle East and Africa (MEA) at Geocycle, during his tour of Kenya recently on this and more.

Waste management is becoming a crisis globally. How serious is the problem?

According to the World Bank, global waste is expected to grow to around 3.4 billion tonnes by 2050, from the current two billion tonnes of solid waste annually. Currently, at least 30 per cent of this waste is not managed in an environmentally safe manner. 

More than 90 per cent of waste in sub-Saharan Africa goes to open dumpsites and landfills due to the absence of adequate waste disposal and treatment solutions. Waste management and recycling solutions, therefore, have to be accelerated to match the increase of waste.

What are the latest techniques and technologies being deployed to deal with the waste management problem?

Waste-to-energy solutions are the main trends currently. This entails either generating electricity from waste or co-processing waste as alternative fuels for heavy energy industries such as the cement and steel industries. 

At Geocycle, we apply the co-processing technology in cement kilns, which is a scientific, proven and established technology for disposing of hazardous and other non-recyclable waste in an environmentally sustainable way. As a result, 100 per cent of the waste input is recycled without leaving any additional residue. Due to its advantages in terms of complete destruction of waste and no residue leftover, cement kilns stand out from the different methods of waste disposal like incineration, waste to energy and landfilling.

What key initiatives are you undertaking in Kenya?

We have a number of partnerships with different industries on safe waste disposal. This includes a partnership with oil marketers through a Safe Waste Oil Disposal (SWOD) programme with the Petroleum Institute of East Africa (PIEA), where Bamburi Cement supports them to safely dispose of their waste oil safely.

Other waste disposal partnerships are with logistics companies to dispose of their waste tyres which globally are among the largest and most problematic sources of waste. We are also working with agricultural producers and millers to dispose of their waste, such as rice husks. 

Do you have other plans in the pipeline for Kenya?

Geocycle Kenya plans to develop its operations to cover more the industrial hazardous waste generated from the industrial sector. This is a very important segment for our sustainable development plan that helps to dispose of hazardous waste in a safe, healthy and environmentally friendly manner.

Moreover, we will work to increase the usage of carbon-neutral biomass at our operations at our Mombasa Plant that will help to reduce Co2 emissions.   

How will businesses in Kenya be impacted by these initiatives?

Proper waste management solutions definitely have a positive impact on our society in terms of sustainability. Geocycle is committed to providing holistic waste management solutions that ensure a zero-waste future.

Over 50,000 tonnes of waste is co-processed by Bamburi Cement every year. More than 500,000 tonnes of waste that could have otherwise ended up in the environment or landfills has been converted into energy in the last 10 years within our industrial operations in Mombasa and Nairobi.