Here is a great story about a PhD student Joel Chaney, from the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Nottingham, who has developed a method of producing briquettes from the waste of the banana plant (roots, leafs, banana skins). These banana briquettes could ultimately be used in rural and farming communities all over Africa and could be a step forward in resolving the problem of lack of firewood that many developing countries have. To make the banana briquettes, the tools and technology required is minimal.
Click here to see the video on how the briquettes are made. Read more about the research carried out here.
And what replaces the nutrients that were in the “waste” and that might have gone into the soil?
By: Jeremy on April 17, 2009
at 2:05 pm
Good point. I wonder if some of the mashed up waste could be used as fertiliser instead of being fired up into briquettes?
By: Bioversity Library on April 23, 2009
at 9:00 am
Surely the burned remains must have /some/ sort of good use when returned to the ground?
If not – I still see this as far more beneficial than largescale deforestation where there is next to no ‘waste’ to return to the ground…
By: M4pk on July 30, 2009
at 5:52 pm