Recycled paper makes perfect firewood

Julia Pandeni, owner of “Kaandja KUKU” established in February this year, is determined to help keep Namibia clean by providing the whole of Namibia with her product, Log On Firewood, which her company makes from newspapers or paper and water only.
She explained that they collect newspapers, especially from offices, but mainly anywhere they can find them, which they soak in water and leave to dry. “This firewood can be used for the fireplace, camping, BBQ cooking and they come in chips, chunks, and bundles from 100% recycled papers, which is clean-dried and heat-treated to perfection,” she added.
She said that even though they are still a small company, they hold an enormous amount of potential for creating self employment opportunities, as well as making a significant contribution to reducing land degradation through recycling waste paper and reducing the cutting down of trees for redwood purposes.
“We also train and employee people in the production of Log On Firewood and currently we have 6 employees, who are able to help their beneficiaries and themselves by generating sustainable income,” she added.
Furthermore, Julia aims to contribute to Vision 2030 by developing self sustainable low cost paper block manufacturing programmes for informal settlement households in urban and rural areas. “This will create an alternative to wood for fuel and we also want to recycle a percentage of the paper that currently ends up in landfills,” added Julia.
According to Julia, she has not received one complaint from a client and the people who have used the firewood are very happy with the results. “All testers said they would recommend the wood to their friends because it is perfect for all coal and wood burning uses and there is not sparking and spitting,” she said.
The challenge that she is facing at the moment is water shortage in Windhoek, this is slowing down the process and she wants to adhere to the rules and regulations of The City on how to save water, that is why production has slowed down. “Besides this we carry on with business as usual and in the future we plan on spreading to the north too,” she said.