By Natalya Sarkari
Empowered Solutions for Environmental Sustainability (ESES) does more than just fight plastic. We forge international relationships united by the goal of empowering communities with ways to provide jobs, spark innovation, encourage collaboration, and- of course- fight mismanaged plastic waste in a world that can’t live without it.
Our work in Zimbabwe is a testament to this mission. Over the past three years, we’ve collaborated with two local organizations- ALITAB in Harare and ENACTUS-NUST in Bulawayo- to implement and improve our Trash-to-Tank processor.
But this blog post will feature our friends over at ALITAB!
Since 2023, our team has been working with a local organization in Harare, Zimbabwe, helping them turn plastic waste into usable fuel. ALITAB is a Zimbabwe-based organization that works on waste management, sustainable design, and helping communities develop environmentally friendly livelihoods. However, they also do work in France, Italy, and the United Kingdom!
They do more than just collect trash, though. Their work has four main ‘pillars’:
1. Waste Management and Infrastructure
ALITAB helps communities, companies, and public entities figure out how to deal with the waste they generate. That includes strategic planning, such as waste management plans, advising on how to set up systems for sorting, collecting, and disposing of types of waste- plastic, glass, compost, etc.
2. Education and Community Outreach
ALITAB places a strong emphasis on training, awareness, and working ‘on the ground.’ This includes schools, local NGOs, and communities as a whole. They run cleaning campaigns and explain why sorting and reducing waste matters- encouraging people to sort and handle waste properly.
3. Designing sustainable livelihoods
Rather than seeing waste only as a problem to be fixed, ALITAB treats it as a resource for communities to share. They make furniture and design items from recycled plastic, giving it new life! These products are handmade and often quite creative.
ALITAB hopes to use plastic to design more furniture, such as the plastic lawn chair pictured above, to create a plastic demand and market.
4. A circular-economy approach
Their vision is not just to deal with waste once it’s created, but to prevent the generation of plastic, as well as reuse, recycle, and recover resources that are already in the economy. Part of that is working with other organizations- either domestically with local businesses, or internationally with nonprofits like ESES- on how to design less waste and repurpose existing pollution.
So, how are ESES and ALITAB working together?
Since 2023, our team here at ESES has been working with ALITAB, helping them turn certain types of plastic waste (specifically types 2, 4, and 5) into sustainable fuel. On our most recent trip (June 2025), they asked if the processor we built could be made lighter and easier to move. We delivered with a new design: an aluminum retort with a smaller barrel. The result? A portable system that works well for their needs in the community- and they are thrilled with it!
ALITAB now plans to mix the fuel oil with sawdust, pressing it into briquettes that can be used for safe cooking and heating inside the home. This is a major step forward, as it allows for more uses for the processor!
Even more exciting, ALITAB is working with local manufacturers in Harare to produce ESES’ open-source design on the processor, which would mean the processor can be manufactured in Zimbabwe! If successful, then it will make the design and processor far more accessible to communities across Zimbabwe.
We’re proud to support ALITAB’s vision, and we invite you to follow along as we continue building a cleaner, more sustainable future together!