By Natalya Sarkari
The National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, is one of the country’s newer public universities, but has quickly proven itself to be a pillar of research, innovation, and collaboration. It was founded in 1990 and welcomed its first class of students in 1991.
Among those students was Samson Mhlanga, a young engineering student. Samson would be a student from 1991 to 1995, and would go on to become a lecturer at the University in 1997. Professor Mhlanga then became the faculty sponsor for a branch of the ENACTUS (ENtrepreneurial ACTion for US) club. ENACTUS is an international nonprofit that pairs students, faculty, and business leaders to turn entrepreneurial ideas into social impact on the local level.
Over the past two summers, Empowered Solutions for Environmental Sustainability (ESES) has been collaborating with Professor Mhlanga and ENACTUS – NUST on combating the plastic waste pollution crisis in Bulawayo.
On ESES’ first trip to Bulawayo to collaborate with ENACTUS – NUST, we spent a week showing them how to build and run a Polyfuel Processor.
Caption: In-person collaboration began in 2024 in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
During this week, our team ESES and ENACTUS-NUST did more than just build the processor. We visited local landfills, plastic processing plants, and even met with local university and government leaders to discuss how change can be implemented! On ESES’ final day, the students successfully loaded the processor with plastic and produced fuel oil. Since then, ENACTUS – NUST has continued using the processor and has had tremendous results!
This year, the students at NUST worked to develop a processor that is powered by the magnetron, transformer, and capacitor harvested from a household microwave oven- essentially recycling the parts! This would allow for more locally sourced parts in developing a processor, as well as less electronic waste!
This past summer (May – June 2025) ESES engineers travelled to Harare, Zimbabwe, where we met with the NUST students to brainstorm and work on a process that could prove reliable enough for community deployment. Unfortunately, the high-voltage transformer is not equipped for continuous, hours-long usage. Most microwaves are suited to run for minutes a day at most, so when the transformer is set to run for 6-8 hours, as it would on a full run of the processor, it tends to fail.
Caption: In June 2025, ESES and NUST continued their in-person collaboration by brainstorming ideas for a processor powered by a microwave transformer.
ESES is planning on continuing joint research with NUST students and faculty on how best to solve the problem. We provided the group with another processor prototype to allow them to conduct more experiments and run more tests.
We are looking forward to what 2026 will bring us in terms of collaboration with this amazing group! Stay tuned for more!