Turning garbage into fuel helps poor households near dumpsites

MANILA, Philippines - The dumpsite is home to different kinds of wastes. The most that the people in the dumpsite can do is to pick up wastes that they can sell to junkshops. Little do they realize that they can gain more from trash by turning garbage into fuel energy.           

Turning garbage into fuel energy helps save forest trees – the source of fuel wood and charcoal used by majority of Filipino households for cooking. 

Potential alternative sources of fuel are waste papers and biomass from agriculture. These materials can be briquetted for easy handling and firing.

Waste briquetting in the Calajunan dumpsite

Waste briquetting is a practice among waste workers in the Calajunan dumpsite in Iloilo City. However, they make briquettes using their bare hands only, making it quite difficult and tedious. For bigger production, briquetting by hands is even more tiresome.

After the incorporation in 2009 of the waste workers into a registered entity, Uswag Calajunan Livelihood Association  Inc. (UCLA), the group identified production of paper briquettes as one of their potential livelihood projects.

UCLA was registered through the project Solid Waste Management for Local Government Units in the Philippines conducted by AHT GROUP AG on behalf of the German International Cooperation (GIZ) together with the local government office of Iloilo City. It has approximately 200 members who were former unorganized waste pickers in the controlled dump facility located in Brgy. Calajunan, Mandurriao, Iloilo city.

The Central Philippine University (CPU) through its College of Agriculture, Resources and Environmental Sciences collaborated with the project by enhancing the skills of the waste workers through trainings and researches on briquetting. As such, the briquette molder that CPU developed was particularly designed for household use and for small-scale production of UCLA members. 

In a report sent to the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD), Engr. Aries Roda D. Romallosa, project director and department chairman of CPU, said that the briquette molder is operated by placing the wastes inside the molder, pushing the handle downward, closing it and further pressing down the material for compaction. Once taken out of the molder, briquettes are sun-dried until ideal for fuel use.

Findings on briquette molder

The project report of Romallosa and Kristofer John C. Hornada indicates that UCLA members trained on briquetting production produced three different types of briquettes using various combinations of waste materials.

Briquette 1 was composed of 100 percent waste paper. Briquette 2 was 50 percent waste paper and 50 percent sawdust. Briquette 3 was 50 percent waste paper, 25 percent carbonized rice husk, and 25 percent sawdust.

Based on the 10-day actual production test conducted at the UCLA Center, members were able to produce an average of 12-18 kilograms of briquettes per day using the equipment.

Time spent was four hours for briquetting and two hours for materials and equipment preparation per day of operation.

The briquettes had high heating value ranging from 6,500 to 7,000 BTU/lb. This figure is higher than the ideal heating value of 5,000 BTU/lb, which implies a promising potential for briquettes as substitute fuel.

Moreover, the briquettes ignited a minute faster than the two minutes for charcoal.  When used for boiling water and cooking rice, the three types of briquettes produced were able to boil two liters of water in 12 to 15 minutes, and cooked 750 grams of rice in 17 to 22 minutes, faster than charcoal does.

At a cost of P6,000 for the the molder, UCLA  and similar  livelihood  associations can already  make  a living out  of garbage  in  the dump by converting paper wastes and agri-wastes into briquettes.

The briquettes have high heating value and can be sold at P10 to P15 per kilogram. While doing this, they also  assist the LGU in Iloilo City in its solid waste management efforts.

The equipment is affordable, portable, simple, easy to handle even by women, and applicable to small households.

It was made in local welding shops using locally available materials for easier adoption by local communities for small-scale production ventures.

For details on the briquetting technology, Aries Roda D. Romallosa can be reached at the Department of Agricultural Engineering and Environmental Sciences, College of Agriculture, Resources and Environmental Sciences of CPU, Jaro, Iloilo City at (6333) 329 1971 local 1071.