GWABA: BURKINA FASO'S LOCALLY MADE INCINERATORS TACKLING POLLUTION. (PHOTO).

Gwaba: Burkina Faso's locally made incinerators tackling pollution

The "Wanbzanga" and "Gwaba" incinerators were the brainchild of Jean Pierre Salifou Dondassé and has since been approved by health authorities for being less polluting and more practical.

Waste incinerators made from local materials are becoming an increasingly common sight in Burkina Faso where the challenge to dispose tonnes of plastic waste keeps growing.

Their development was timely - coming at a time the West African country had fewer incinerators to deal with the piles of plastic and biomedical waste that accumulated in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The large-scale use of facemasks and other protective accessories had made waste treatment a priority issue in the country.

A report by the World Health Organization noted that medical waste associated with the response to the COVID-19 pandemic had strained healthcare waste management systems worldwide"

It also noted that healthcare establishments in the least developed countries were not equipped to manage the existing quantities of waste.

The "Wanbzanga" and "Gwaba" incinerators were the brainchild of Jean Pierre Salifou Dondassé and has since been approved by health authorities for being less polluting and more practical.

He said demand for the two products increased following the COVID-19 outbreak.

Conception

But the interest of Dondassé family in waste treatment, particularly biomedical waste started way back in 2002. That was when Jean Pierre Salifou designed the first model of the single-combustion incinerator that he named the "Gwaba" - meaning big fire in the local Joola language.