September 18, 2009, East Lansing, Michigan: Students of the Vesta Cooperative House at Michigan State University have raised nearly $800 for an alternative fuel project started by a local enviromentalist in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The money was raised last Friday at a party organized at the cooperative. The party was organized by Ros and Jordan Meerdink, the sister and brother of Peace Fellow Ned Meerdink, who has been working in the DRC for more than a year.

Their efforts were featured in an article in the university’s newspaper.

The funds raised at the party will go toward the purchase of presses that will allow local Congolese women to produce briquettes of alternative cooking fuel — easing deforestation and providing them with badly-needed income.

The briquettes, which are made of organic waste such as banana peels and sugar cane, were pioneered by Clement Kitambala, a Congolese environmental advocate and friend of Ned Meerdink.

Mr Kitambala began exploring alternative fuels after realizing that “makala” – traditional charcoal made from eucalyptus trees – was putting pressure on the forests and the finances of local villagers. Makala is essential for daily cooking, but it involves cutting down eucalyptus trees, digging a series of large holes, and burning the eucalyptus with other branches and mud in the holes for several days until the charcoal is created.

Mr Kitambala’s briquettes are easier to light, burn longer and at a higher temperature, cost less, and require only small amounts of wood. To make the briquettes, about 50 kilograms of organic waste is processed into a pulp and mixed with water to make a dough. The mixture is then put in the press and compacted into briquettes, which are left in the sun to dry for a day or two. A batch of about 500 briquettes produces cooking fuel for a family for about two weeks.

A briquette press in the DRC.