Hubard Stephny, a 29-year-old petroleum engineer, has turned into a pioneer of green energy and organic fertilizer in Cameroon. He is bringing his green ideas to communities and is training them.
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00:00 The roadside here, littered with waste.
00:02 But for Houbart, it's a treasure trove.
00:05 He and his team regularly head out to gather vegetable scraps
00:09 in the Cameroonian community of Pendia.
00:12 There's no municipal waste collection,
00:14 so everything ends up on the streets.
00:17 For the Family Green Corporation NGO,
00:20 it's a valuable resource.
00:21 We want to recycle this household waste in a useful way.
00:27 It's lying around everywhere.
00:29 Most of it is vegetable waste,
00:31 which we can use to produce eco-friendly charcoal
00:34 for lots of people.
00:36 It costs less, so it's affordable for families.
00:39 The team has all the equipment they need.
00:46 They use a cargo trike to bring the bags of vegetable scraps
00:49 to the recycling yard.
00:51 They can process hundreds of kilos of waste a month.
00:57 The first step is sorting the waste.
01:00 Bananas, cornstalks, as well as coconut and bamboo branches
01:04 are all good for making organic charcoal.
01:08 Just like the wood charcoal, the material first has to be burned.
01:13 The team works to keep emissions to a minimum.
01:16 The burned vegetable waste is then mixed with other organic waste
01:20 and then combined with a gluey substance
01:22 derived from the cassava plant.
01:25 Every machine here was built by the NGO.
01:29 But not every job has been automated.
01:31 The last step is forming the charcoal by hand
01:34 and then placing the briquettes in the sun to dry.
01:41 It's a clean, healthy fuel that doesn't smoke
01:44 and can even be used in the home like gas.
01:46 So it replaces butane gas.
01:54 At the same time, it also helps address the waste problem
01:57 in our community.
01:59 And it helps in the fight against deforestation
02:01 and helps address the problem of global warming.
02:10 The NGO produces some 300 kilos of organic charcoal.
02:14 Some of it is sold in major cities like Douala,
02:18 but most remain in nearby communities.
02:21 Qubart's NGO now employs 12 people and they all receive a good wage.
02:29 The organization offers internships too.
02:32 At the moment, Catherine Bilae Mbeya,
02:35 a student from the coastal city of Douala,
02:38 is doing an internship here.
02:43 I'm passionate about everything to do with protecting the environment,
02:48 everything to do with organics.
02:50 I was immediately won over by the fact that the corporation
02:52 is involved in the production of bio-fertilizers,
02:56 ecological charcoal and biogas.
03:04 The NGO built its first biogas plants for local farmers.
03:08 Now they've expanded and also manufactured them
03:11 for private individuals and institutions throughout the country.
03:16 Qubart has made a career out of renewable energy
03:19 and it's all because the oil industry didn't want him.
03:23 I'm a trained petroleum engineer.
03:27 In 2016, after I finished my studies,
03:32 it was very difficult for us to find a job in the oil industry.
03:36 So together with some friends and classmates,
03:39 we came up with the idea to set up an organization
03:42 to promote alternatives to fossil fuels.
03:49 Along with green energy,
03:51 the NGO recently added organic fertilizer to its portfolio.
03:55 They use a method that is simple but very efficient.
03:59 Tender green leaves are soaked in water
04:01 and then mixed with other organic wastes
04:03 such as vegetable matter or cow dung.
04:07 After several weeks, the fertilizer is ready to use.
04:12 The NGO also does community outreach with farmers and schools.
04:16 They hope to win farmers over to using organic fertilizer
04:19 or even take part in producing it.
04:24 We've been to various schools and shown the students there
04:27 how to manage waste sustainably.
04:30 The young students are the foundation for the future.
04:33 When they finish school,
04:34 they should be inspired to contribute to this sector.
04:41 The NGO is a pioneer in Cameroon.
04:44 If the ideas catch on,
04:46 many more young people in the country stand to benefit
04:49 and the environment will benefit too.