From building material to food supplement, eggshells have many uses. Eggs are nutritious and a key part of Kampala street food, but the leftover shells add to the city’s waste problem. Local business people are finding solutions, and profiting too.
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00:00Most people wouldn't give eggshells a second thought and yet every year millions of tons end up in landfills
00:08where they release methane, a greenhouse gas that is 80 times more powerful than CO2 in the long run.
00:17Yet eggshells are a potentially valuable resource.
00:21Here, two examples from the Ugandan capital.
00:25Eggs are like in all of Uganda, a street food staple in Kampala.
00:30For example, the Rolex snack is made of omelette, vegetables and flatbread.
00:37Its name is a play on rolled eggs.
00:40Usually the eggshells just get discarded,
00:44but Moses Sempija is now collecting them from many of Uganda's street food stalls.
00:52By collecting waste eggshells from the food stall, we help keep the area clean
00:58and it enables us to repurpose the eggshells into something valuable that sustains our livelihood.
01:07Moses Sempija runs a small shop with natural products such as oils or cough remedies.
01:13He dropped out of school but later learned how to make his own living in a workshop for entrepreneurs.
01:20One of the ideas that came out of it, a nutritional supplement made from eggshells.
01:26First, they are cleaned and cooked to kill off germs, then processed into a calcium-rich powder.
01:33Sempija sells a 120-gram drum for the equivalent of 1 euro and 10 cents.
01:40He sells about 33 of them a week.
01:43Diana Narubega found it painful when she got up or bent down.
01:49Doctors couldn't help.
01:51She says that her pain disappeared after taking eggshell powder for four months.
01:58At Kampala's Chambogo University, its benefits are being scientifically researched.
02:04Human nutrition student Walter Okulo says eggshells contain other vital minerals as well as calcium.
02:14Magnesium, it aids in the absorption of calcium
02:17because now when we say we are going to give calcium to people or a supplement of calcium to people,
02:22what if it is not being absorbed?
02:24So the magnesium content alone aids in that.
02:27Then again, when we look at the sodium content,
02:29sodium content helps in maintaining and regulating of the body fluids.
02:34The mineral calcium is important for strong bones and teeth.
02:38It also aids muscle function, the nervous system, and blood clotting.
02:44Our diets are often not very calcium rich.
02:48Yet an average chicken egg contains enough to meet the daily needs of an average adult,
02:54about one gram a day.
02:56It's an overlooked source of nutrition.
02:59Many people don't have enough food,
03:01but even those who don't have enough food are not using it well.
03:04So I think if we created a way in which people understand the value of food
03:10and the value of each of the components of the food,
03:14then we shall have less wastage and more utilization of the foods.
03:19But what else can eggshells do?
03:22Godfrey Sengonzi manufactures wool and floor tiles.
03:26By using eggshell powder, he can halve the amount of cement that he needs.
03:32Cement production is a major source of CO2 emissions.
03:36Sengonzi's products don't have to be fired.
03:39Avoiding the use of wood or coal, fuels which also create smoke and particular matter.
03:45It means reduction in the extraction of raw materials,
03:49reduction of carbon in the environment.
03:54Yeah, I believe embracing usage of wastes is the way to go to save the future.
04:03Godfrey Sengonzi's eggshell tiles are in use in more than 65 buildings.
04:08His customers include the NGO Django International, which is close to Kampala.
04:14It runs a kind of talent campus, which helps young people bring their business ideas to fruition.
04:21Sengonzi's tiles have exceeded their expectations.
04:25Usually you hear stories, someone has fallen so much, has fallen in a bathroom,
04:30someone has fallen because of a wet floor.
04:34There's a way these tiles make it a little bit balanced,
04:37that when you step on them, even when they are wet, they at least give you a balance
04:41and they are not so slippery as those.
04:45By creating greener building materials or food supplements from eggshells,
04:50these innovative entrepreneurs are helping care for the environment
04:55and transforming problems into solutions.