Sierra Leone: Climate Fund Managers backs waste recycler
Climate Fund Managers (CFM), the manager of Climate Investor Two (CI2), announced the signing of the development funding agreement with Freetown Waste Transformers (FWT) and The Waste Transformers BV (TWT).
Under the agreement, the Climate Investor Two Development Fund (DF2) has approved an investment of $3.9 million. The investment will finance project development activities, as well as the purchase and operation of five waste transformer units in Freetown, Sierra Leone under a pilot scheme initiative.
The project will supply Sierra Leone’s commercial and industrial energy off-takers with baseload off-grid energy, whilst reducing the amount of organic waste sent to landfills. The solution complements the city of Freetown’s award-winning waste management initiatives by converting about 20% of Freetown organic waste into electricity, heat and digestate to be sold as organic fertiliser.
The Waste Transformers are a Dutch waste-to-value solution provider who has developed matching named ‘Waste Transformers’. These are modular, anaerobic digesters, built in 20-foot shipping containers, producing biogas from food waste, and turning that into good energy for local consumption. What remains is turned into a high value fertiliser to stimulate local food production. The project concerns the treatment of organic waste which shall be fed into Waste Transformers placed around Freetown. The units shall be supplied with waste collected either on-site from large customers or from waste collected by micro-enterprises which are organised by FWT.
FWT is a Sierra Leonean-owned integrated waste management company that is developing a waste management app and has a waste supply agreement in place with The Freetown City Council and The Waste Collection Management Association for the city’s waste.
CFM estimates that upon reaching the end of the development phase, the project will represent an opportunity of $20.3 million to the CI2 Construction Equity Fund Two (CEF2) to invest in further opportunities. In addition, during the commercial phase, it is estimated that the systems will treat up to 109 tonnes of organic waste per day, creating 25 new direct jobs and 50 new indirect jobs as well as diversifying Sierra Leone’s energy supply.
Tarun Brahma, CFMs head of investments, stated the following, “The Waste Transformers project provides a great opportunity for CFM to address the demand for waste treatment and electricity production in Sierra Leone, whilst also reducing waste going to landfills and providing jobs.”
Are you seeking private equity or venture capital investment to grow your company? Africa Private Equity News now offers you the opportunity to connect with investors backing African businesses. Contact us at editor@africaprivateequitynews.com for our rate card and more information.