Briquettes, an alternative to charcoal in Haiti

Due to lack of alternative in Haiti, charcoal has become the mean for cooking for the majority of the people. Unfortunately the demand for charcoal has destroyed the environment to the point of leaving Haiti in a state of emergency.

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One group is determined to change this behavior by manufacturing briquettes for cooking made of trash. Even more importantly is that this process is made possible by using something that Haiti already has too much of, trash.

The recycling process turns the neighborhood's trash into cooking fuel. This has created jobs for many already and will likely create even more.

Peoplesit on plastic buckets shredding wet paper and cardboard with their fingers. Others use what looks like a giant mortar and pestle to mash the mixture. Others smoosh the paste into metal cylinders to mold it into briquettes, which will be sold as replacements for charcoal.

Former President Bill Clinton, now the UN's special envoy to Haiti, recently mentioned this new Haitian product, briquettes, before a crowd in the US.

As a result of this new invention of briquettes, many Haitian neighborhoods that were once filled with trash are now much cleaner, and hundreds of jobs have been created.

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