At Baobuyu, we promote the REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE concept to educate our kids and the community about the importance of eliminating waste. We think it’s important that the kids learn to take responsibility for protecting our environment and their future.

In 2018, Baobuyu became home to Mwandi’s first ever community recycling center. Once a month, our preschool and members of the local community collect litter from the compound; and community members are also able to deposit waste in the bins at any time.

Soft plastic and plastic bottles are used to make ecobricks, whilst organic material is fed to our biogas digester. It’s a win-win situation for our school and the community!

Some of the other ways we are working toward a greener future include:

  • Our biogas digester, in which all waste water from the showers, toilets and sinks; as well as organic waste (such as unusable peels) is deposited in. The digester is a big underground chamber which converts this waste to methane gas, which we then use for cooking on our gas stove. This ‘liquid’ also produces one of the best organic fertilisers and is essential for our school gardens.Fruit and vegetable seeds are germinated and reused for planting in our school garden.
  • We have planted over 30 fruit trees, including guava, papaya, lemon and orange, muhulohulo (African orange)and mango to supplement our feeding program.
  • Our vegetable garden is used both to teach the kids about the importance of growing their own food, and to provide healthy vegetables for our feeding program.
  • No food ever goes to waste, with the children’s uneaten left overs being thoroughly devoured by the Security Team (a.k.a. the dogs)
  • We use only energy efficient appliances and lightbulbs
  • Other waste such as toilet paper rolls, cardboard, water bottles, glass jars, tin cans etc., is used in art projects to create masks, cardboard creatures, musical instruments and whatever else you can imagine!
  • Restaurants, backpackers and lodges in the Livingstone area save water bottles and plastic waste for us to ecobrick.

We are super proud of the fact our school produces zero waste! Let us show you how we do it: