The amount of municipal solid waste in Zambia (MSW) is growing even faster than the rate of urbanisation and waste management systems  are generally undeveloped and underutilized. Doranova developed the Landfill Advanced Productivity System (LAPS) that could also be tailored to meet the needs of the African markets. In LAPS the waste that ends to landfills is converted into sustainable supply of electricity, heat, clean water and raw materials. This project aimed to define and test both the delivery model of extracted landfill gas and the overall business model of LAPS at Kitwa dumpsite. The objective outcome of the project was be an innovative, scalable and market ready system that decreases the environmental effects of landfills and increases welfare by creating jobs and increasing energy certainty.

Outcome and Impact

The piloted technical solution in Kitwe comprised from portable gas wells and a container including a power generation unit, gas pumping infrastructure and solar panels to produce the required start-up power. Hence, the target to find a low-cost method to extract landfill gas and turn it to electricity was found. During the project Doranova also wrote material for sustainable landfill operations that can be used also in the future projects.