Greenpacts

Ambassador: Leroy Mwasuru , Kenya

In high school, in Kenya, Leroy designed a Human Waste Bioreactor to solve three problems; a rift between the school and its local community, the provision of clean renewable energy for the school’s cooks and poor sanitation in the school. He led a team to compete in Innovate Kenya’s 2013 Innovation challenge, winning $2,000. The money was used to build a prototype Bioreactor which is still in use today to produce biogas. 
After graduating from high school in 2015 Leroy initiated a pilot project in the Taita Taveta County which serves five households providing safe alternative cooking fuel (Biogas). Today his Bioreactors serve an additional five schools and 51 households. He aims to overcome the problems of access to clean renewable energy and proper sanitation for the four million Kenyan Households who currently lack these facilities. The most widely used alternative energy sources are Kerosene and traditional biomass fuels such as wood and charcoal. On average each household spends $110 per year. The cost savings can pay for food, school fees or creating businesses. Reducing Kerosene use also benefits consumers’ health and the environment. Kenya Water and Sanitation Programme estimates poor sanitation costs Kenya an estimated $324 million each year due to ill health and lost productivity, equivalent to $8 per person in Kenya per year or 0.9% of the national GDP. Leroy’s biowaste reactors solve this problem