Meet Samuel Alemayehu, the Ethiopian who wants to turn Africa’s garbage into electricity

Ethiopia is home to one of the largest waste landfills in Africa called Repi dumpsite, where all garbage and waste materials from Addis Ababa is dumped.

The dumpsite has become so big that it could cover 36 football pitches. And with it comes a number of other adverse effects: disease, pollution and even death.

It is against this background that Samuel Z. Alemayehu has made it his mission to conquer the mountain of garbage in his country.

Alemayehu, who is the co-founder and managing director of Cambridge Industries the company through which he wants to construct an energy plant, is an engineer from Stanford and a serial entrepreneur with a number of tech ventures to his name.

His idea is to turn the urban waste in Addis Ababa into energy. He is overseeing the construction of Africa’s first waste-to-energy plant. 

Alemayehu said that the plant would be able to convert 80 per cent (or 1400 tonnes daily) of rubbish in Addis and use it to power 30 per cent of Addis Ababa’s household energy needs, according to World Economic Forum.

The plan is helpful in two major ways: it will get rid of the huge garbage problem in Addis and provide electricity in a country where not everyone enjoys power connection.  It will also be beneficial in conserving space as well as reducing the release of poisonous gas such as methane and toxic waste into rivers.

What’s impressive is that Alemayehu also plans to set up similar structures in Kenya,  Uganda, Cameroon, Senegal and Djibouti.

The project has been welcomed by the Ethiopian government, which is looking to be a middle-income country by 2025.

The World Economic Forum Young Global Leader also says that the project is timely as it matches with the growth of African cities, which has far surpassed their infrastructure.