Sanergy

Founded in 2011, Sanergy developed a sustainable systems-based approach to sanitation and waste management in cities, starting with Nairobi, Kenya. Using a sustainable systems-based approach, Sanergy designs and builds sanitation products and services that are distributed to urban residents of low-income, non-sewered areas. On a regular basis, all waste is safely removed and transported out of the community. To date, Sanergy serves two of Kenya’s biggest cities, Nairobi and Kisumu, through a network of nearly 5,000 sanitation units that serve over 150,000 urban residents every single day.  

In addition, the company has expanded to safely collect other streams of organic waste including kitchen, agricultural, and municipal organic waste that pollutes the environment and contributes to harmful greenhouse gas when left in the open. This waste, along with sanitation waste generated in urban informal settlements is transported to Sanergy’s organics recycling plant for treatment and upcycling. Three key products are then manufactured from the waste: insect protein through the rearing of black soldier fly larvae, organic fertilizer through thermophilic co-composting, and biomass briquettes through compression. These products solve yet another critical challenge that our world faces today – food insecurity and changing climatic conditions. 

Even though 80% of Kenyans rely on agriculture for their livelihood, a sustainable supply of quality agricultural inputs is lacking. Feed millers/livestock farmers face significant shortages of proteins, and in particular, animal-based proteins, while horticultural farmers lack organic fertilizers for their crops. In fact, poor soil health has been named among the top challenges causing low farm yields for most farmers. In addition, local industries face inadequate options for sustainable green fuels for their operations.

Sanergy’s closed-loop circular model promotes regenerative solutions while creating green jobs and significant carbon offsets and removal. Every year, the company removes 50,000 tons of sanitation and organic waste, offsets 20,000+ tons of CO2, and is serving 4,000+ farmers who see a 30% increase in yields from using Sanergy’s agricultural inputs.   

Sanergy currently has goals to expand its organic waste management services across Africa and Asia and offset more than 1,000,000T of carbon emissions per year in the next decade.