Waste management in Cameroon

Technical assistance in setting up a compost unit, organised for the company AfricaBio in Cameroon, illustrates a key aspect of COLEACP’s waste-management intervention strategy.

The intervention strategy is based on two complementary axes –

• reduce the amount of waste produced
• recover residual waste.

It aims to meet growing demand from partner horticultural companies for the management and recovery of processing waste, and also to reduce losses, particularly in post-harvest situations.

AfricaBio in Cameroon produces and processes various fruits from organic farming. It produces a large amount of waste from its processing activities, and faces a lack of fertiliser materials that can be used in organic agriculture. However, it does not have a compost-production site. It therefore benefited from an initial diagnosis that made it possible to analyse the sources of raw materials available at the various production and processing sites and link them to fertiliser requirements. The company now has expert recommendations to start setting up an economically viable composting unit that will enable it to manage waste as efficiently as possible and ensure a level of autonomy in the production of fertilising materials.