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- Christian Youth Development Organisation (CYDO) Tackles Lilongwe's Waste Management Problems
Christian Youth Development Organisation (CYDO) Tackles Lilongwe's Waste Management Problems
CYDO employs between 500 and 600 youths each year, providing job opportunities for young people in the area.
Malawi: With a population of close to 2 million people, Lilongwe District is facing significant waste management challenges that pose health risks to its residents, writes Naome Chisala.
To address these issues, the Christian Youth Development Organization (CYDO) was established in 2007 with funding from the UNDP.
The organization, based in Lilongwe, collects 75% of the city's waste materials and is focused on training youth in sustainable waste management, and sanitation, and offering job opportunities as waste entrepreneurs.
"Before we started this project, Area 25, where we are based, was grappling with poor waste management and sanitation," says CYDO director Max Howard Mgala.
"There was open trash almost everywhere on the roads, which closed roads and traffic."
He adds that the organization's goal is to turn the waste collected into finished products such as manure and fire briquettes, which are then sold for profit.
CYDO employs between 500 and 600 youths each year, providing job opportunities for young people in the area.
Austin Nyirenda, an employee at CYDO, says, "CYDO has created employment for youth like myself who were unemployed. I now sell recycled waste materials such as plastics."
The organization also trains women in manure and briquette production, recycling, and waste sorting, which they sell.
CYDO trains farmers in manure production, which they use to grow crops, and engage in landscaping and gardening. However, the organization faces challenges with funding for its operations.
Mgala explains, "Lending institutions such as banks are reluctant to lend to small service businesses like ours."
He adds that with sufficient funding, CYDO could purchase machines for recycling waste, receptacle bins, and compactor trucks to assist with their operations.
The large population of Lilongwe makes it difficult for CYDO to collect and sort waste efficiently, as the organization's projects are numerous, but its vehicles are few.
Mgala says, "If people knew how to sort out the trash, our work would be easier."
Dump sites are also farther away from the organization's main office, so transfer stations need to be constructed to make waste collection easier.
CYDO faces challenges, with some customers unable to afford their waste disposal fees and others leaving without paying their outstanding debts.
To overcome these challenges, CYDO has partnered with Lilongwe City Council and the government, collaborating on policies and by-laws to improve waste and sanitation management.
Mgala comments, "We've learned that waste management businesses are beneficial and profitable. Waste management creates jobs, and through collecting trash from people's homes and recycling it, we make profits."
In the future, CYDO plans to purchase land and construct a recycling plant, as well as purchase machines and compactor trucks to aid their operations.
The organization hopes to become waste management pioneers and lobby the government to participate in sustainable waste management, while also educating the public on sustainable waste management practices.