Innovative ‘wastepreneur’, Aluwaine T Manyonga, lights up communities with Chigubhu Lantern
Aluwaine Tanaka Manyonga, is what some may call an innovative “wastepreneur,” one who has become adept at transforming waste into valuable resources. Among his groundbreaking creations is the Chigubhu Lantern, an invention that not only provides light but also offers solutions to various challenges faced by communities across Zimbabwe.
Speaking to Community Podium, Aluwaine T Manyonga shared that his innovation was inspired by some electronic lanterns that he would see lying unused at home and ready to be disposed of when they became unfunctional. Driven by the need to bring a solution to the lighting challenges faced by students in rural communities, and the challenges brought by unreliable power supply in urban communities, he thought to combine his knowledge of electronics and address some waste management challenges through creating the Chigubhu Lantern.
Having had access to electronic lanterns, the immediate challenge faced was that of the materials to be used to house the lanterns to make a complete lighting product. This challenge gave way to the thought of collecting and using “chigubhu” to house the lanterns. The Chigubhu Lantern is an LED light made from recycled plastic bottles and electronic waste.
“We use two types of waste, plastic waste and electronic waste, and the major electronic waste which we use is from LED lights. So, when LED lights fail, usually people dump them, and we take them. We also take plastic bottles, cardboard boxes,” explained Manyonga.
Manyonga has managed to bring his innovation into communities by directly working with young people who take part in all the processes involved, like cutting and doing some of the electronic work contributing to the creation of a fully working product. The innovation has also seen him work with some women who are in the waste collection space, essentially creating market linkages with waste pickers and recyclers.
In terms of sustainability and ensuring the durability of the Chigubhu Lanterns for students, Manyonga runs a range of sustainable skills transfer trainings where they train students on how to make the lights.
“On that issue, we give them necessary skills which they need to be able to make the lights so that whenever we provide lights for them, they are able to repair them even after we are gone,” he said.
The Chigubhu Lantern innovator has worked with about six schools in Mashonaland East through support from the Australian Aid, and across the six schools, they have managed to train 300 students in total.
“We have been recording some positive feedback from the schools which include improvement in the pass rates and also in terms of sustainability, through our sustainability skills transfer, the students are now more knowledgeable about topics that are related to waste management, the circular economy, and they are now more environmentally conscious that before,” he added.
“Our future plan is to ensure a light for every student as we are even looking towards going to Matabeleland North. We are also looking into expanding and recycling different types of plastic as we are currently limited to one type of plastic bottle that we can use (mostly cascade bottles). We want to look into the recycling space where we can recycle the plastic waste and reuse so that we are able to produce more lights,” Manyonga advised.
Muziwandile Dube, an educationist and gender champion for the Embassy of Netherlands commended the innovation highlighting that it provides an opportunity for improved grades amongst students, and pass rates for schools which are especially based in rural communities.
