By Ulemu Mbengwani
When the world came to a standstill during the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses crumbled and livelihoods were shaken. But for some, the crisis sparked new beginnings. Among them was Chancy George Chirwa. After nearly a decade in South Africa, he returned home in 2018. When travel restrictions hit, his plans to go back were derailed, yet that setback became the turning point that led to the birth of Vegan Africa Waste Solutions.
Stranded but determined, he began searching for ways to sustain himself, mainly through entrepreneurship. Fortunately, this was not new to him. While in South Africa, he owned arts and craft stores in Cape Town while pursuing an acting and modelling career under D&A Models Management. In 2017, after spending a year living a vegan lifestyle, he opened Vegan Africa Restaurant in Cape Town.
“I started looking for something that could support me. Driven by my passion for the environment, I noticed the pollution problem Mzuzu City was facing at the time. I approached the Mzuzu City Council to propose recycling and proper waste disposal. In response, they asked me to take the lead in recycling and issued me a hygiene certificate. That is how Vegan Africa Waste Solutions was born,” he recalls.
According to Chancy, the waste management challenge in Malawi is significant. There is a lack of proper infrastructure to process waste, and insufficient waste collection vehicles to serve residential areas. Institutions also lack the machinery and technology-based methods needed to improve efficiency in producing organic fertilizer and other recycled products.
Vegan Africa Waste Solutions offers waste collection services and produces products such as organic fertilizer and eco-bricks. The company collects waste from institutions such as Mzuzu Shoprite and Mzuzu International Academy, as well as from residential households. Waste is sorted at the source into categories such as cardboard, plastic, and metal.
The company’s activities also include picking waste, sorting and cleaning plastic, grading it, piling carton waste, selling raw plastic and carton materials, and producing finished products such as eco-bricks from plastic waste and fire briquettes from carton waste.
“At the Mzuzu City Council landfill, we also receive waste from other collection companies. There, we focus on biodegradable waste for the production of organic compost fertilizer. We mix biodegradable and other organic waste such as animal dung, sawdust, green matter, dry greens, and ash in an oven for 21 days. The oven is turned occasionally to allow proper decomposition, ensuring the compost matures evenly. After harvesting the compost, we dry it, sieve it, and then pack it in 50 kg bags ready for sale to agro-dealers and smallholder farmers who use our fertilizer,” he explains.
Through this process, Vegan Africa Waste Solutions has built a system that gives waste a second life. But behind this success story lies a journey filled with challenges and lessons.
Starting Vegan Africa Waste Solutions was an ambitious venture marked by many obstacles. Building the business from the ground up meant stepping into unknown territory and figuring out how to turn an idea for a cleaner environment into a working enterprise.
The biggest challenge Chancy faced when starting Vegan Africa Waste Solutions was his lack of knowledge about recycling. He had no prior experience in waste management and had never studied it formally. He was simply an environmentalist determined to make a difference in his community.
He filled this knowledge gap through online learning, watching tutorials and reading about waste management. His efforts led to the creation of eco-bricks made from plastic waste in 2020. Two years later, he developed organic compost fertilizer, one of the company’s most notable achievements.
“The lesson I learned is that no one should be afraid to follow their passions, even without formal qualifications. In today’s digital world, where information is at our fingertips, anyone can learn a skill and master it,” Chancy explains.
Vegan Africa Waste Solutions operates through a public-private partnership with Mzuzu City Council. The company is registered with the Council as a waste management provider and is recognized as the developer of organic compost fertilizer and eco-bricks. Meanwhile, Mzuzu City Council acts as the landowner, overseeing operations as the local urban council under the Ministry of Local Government in Malawi.
Looking ahead, Chirwa shares his ambitions for the company. “Our goal is to shift from traditional methods of producing organic fertilizer and managing waste to machinery- and technology-based systems,” he explains.
“At present, producing a single bag of organic fertilizer takes 22 days under traditional methods. With a compost digester, we could produce the same bag in just 24 hours. We also plan to acquire a municipal waste incinerator to eliminate non-biodegradable waste, such as diapers, helping us move closer to a zero-waste management system,” he adds.
Chancy shares words of encouragement for young people looking to make their mark. “My advice to young entrepreneurs is to take advantage of sustainable enterprises and innovations emerging in today’s world. Investors are increasingly looking to support sustainable businesses. Young people should keep innovating, improving their products or services, and never give up on their passions and dreams. For those planning to start their own businesses, I encourage them to go green; sustainability is the key,” he says.
Chancy also highlights the difficulties faced by grassroots organizations like his. “One final thing I would like to add is that we often hear world leaders in the climate sector announcing that funds are being disbursed to governments and big NGOs to fight climate change and pollution. Yet, we are never approached for support or funding from these entities, even though we are the ones on the ground actively fighting pollution. This is discouraging because we see the flow of climate funds, but those of us doing the real work rarely benefit from them,” he says.
Despite these challenges, Vegan Africa Waste Solutions continues to make a tangible impact on Mzuzu’s environment and community. Through innovation, dedication, and a strong partnership with the city council, the company is reshaping how waste can drive sustainability. Chirwa’s story shows that meaningful change can start with one person who sees possibility where others see waste.
