From "river killer" to environmentally friendly plastic! Water hyacinth can also be a new solution to save forests
2025-03-13
2025-03-13
According to CNN, invasive aquatic plants around the world cause an average of more than $700 million in economic losses each year, and the water hyacinth is recognized as one of the most destructive aquatic invasive plants in the world.
Eichhornia crassipes is a floating plant native to South America. It is also known as the "river killer" because it reproduces rapidly and may block waterways, affect water quality and ecology, and even affect drainage systems. In Taiwan, before every typhoon season, there are often reports that the government of each county and city has dispatched manpower and machinery to carry out large-scale cleanup to prevent the water surface from being invaded by water hyacinths.
However, a Kenyan startup called HyaPak Ecotech Limited has found an innovative solution by converting eco-killers into bioplastics and applying them to forest restoration projects.
The silent killer of lakes: How does water hyacinth paralyze the ecology?
Lake Naivasha, located northwest of Kenya's capital Nairobi, has become difficult to navigate in recent years due to the rapid expansion of water hyacinths. Local fishermen said that the water hyacinths blocked the lake surface, and there was even an incident in which a fishing boat was trapped in the lake for three days, and the government had to send a helicopter to rescue it.
The spread of water hyacinths covering the water surface will block sunlight and the breathing space for other plants, causing the oxygen content in the water to drop, leading to a decrease in the number of fish. This will not only affect biodiversity, but also the livelihood of local fisheries. In serious cases, it will also block hydroelectric power generation and irrigation systems, directly affecting human life.
But what happened at Lake Naivasha is not an isolated case. The water hyacinth is native to South America and was originally introduced to many countries as an ornamental plant. It has since spread rapidly everywhere except Antarctica. According to a study published in the journal ScienceDirect, aquatic and semi-aquatic alien species caused global economic losses of more than US$32 billion (approximately NT$1.5 trillion) in the 45 years from 1975 to 2020, with an average of more than US$700 million (approximately NT$22.9 billion) per year.
From pollution to innovation, how does water hyacinth become bioplastic?
Faced with this environmental crisis, Kenyan startup HyaPak Ecotech Limited has found an innovative solution. In 2021, the founder, Joseph Nguthiru, and his university classmates went to Lake Naivasha for a field trip and experienced first-hand the inconvenience caused by the water hyacinth. Their boat was stuck for 5 hours, so they decided to invest in research and development.
Nguthiru mixed dried water hyacinths with adhesives and additives to create a bioplastic that can biodegrade within 3 to 6 months, initially used to replace plastic bag packaging.
Since the Kenyan government banned single-use plastic bags in 2017, the market has lacked suitable alternatives, resulting in illegal plastic bags still being smuggled into Kenya. Bioplastics made from water hyacinth not only meet environmental protection needs, but also solve the increasingly serious problem of plastic pollution.
Not only that, HyaPak also purchases water hyacinths from Lake Naivasha from fishermen, who can then dry them and sell them to HyaPak, providing an alternative income when fishermen are unable to fish due to water hyacinths.
From introduced species to native species, giving the earth a green
In addition to replacing plastic bags, Nguthiru also further applied bioplastics to the Kenyan government's forest restoration project. According to Global Forest Watch, Kenya's forest cover decreased by 14% from 2001 to the end of 2022 due to excessive deforestation. To this end, the Kenyan government has launched an accelerated forest and land restoration plan, pledging to plant 15 billion trees by 2032 and increase the country's forest coverage to 30%.
HyaPak's bioplastic seedling bags can be planted together with the seedlings, degrading over time and releasing nutrients such as nitrogen, while slowing the rate at which water seeps into the surrounding soil, thereby reducing water consumption for initial irrigation and lowering carbon emissions. Compared with traditional plastic seedling bags, HyaPak's bioplastic seedling bags are not only more environmentally friendly, but also increase the survival rate of planted trees.
“You offset the carbon emissions that would be produced, you use less water, you add more nutrients…it’s a win-win situation for the community, the planet and the farmers,” Nguthiru said.
HyaPak’s innovations have received numerous international recognitions, including the East Africa Climate Action Awards Youth Champion, the UNESCO World Engineering Day Hackathon, and the 2023 COP28 Climate Conference Prototype for Humanity Award.
Currently, HyaPak has also been successfully exported to the United States and Germany, and plans to expand its business to India and El Salvador, two countries that are also troubled by the water hyacinth problem. Nguthiru stressed that “our generation should be the one to find solutions to the climate crisis because if we don’t do it, we will never do it.”
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