Public-Private Partnerships for Sustainable Development

Mountains of garbage are a dirty reality for Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. But with assistance from the UN Development Program, a new waste management project hopes to turn trash into a cheap source of energy. The paper waste gets pounded, mashed up, mixed with sawdust, and then squeezed into cylinders to make a dry briquette of recycled paper charcoal. Without electricity, Haiti’s population of nearly nine million depends on wood-based charcoal for fuel. So it is no surprise that the country has lost 98% of its trees. Though a tropical island, parts of Haiti are fast becoming a desert, where bare mountainsides lead to erosion and severe flooding. The briquettes could help solve Haiti’s looming environmental crisis.