The natural gas production project derived from human waste was designed and constructed by the Centre for Community Initiatives (CCI) in collaboration with community groups (the Federation) in Mji Mpya, Vingunguti Ward, Ilala District, Dar es Salaam. This plan, developed in 2020, aims to reduce the impacts of climate change in informal settlements and address key sanitation challenges, including the improvement of toilets. Due to the high water table in Vingunguti, it is difficult to dig deep toilet pits, causing waste to overflow into residential areas and leading to outbreaks of diseases during heavy rains.

This gas production project aims to enable access to natural gas generated from human waste collected from improved toilets.

The project involved upgrading toilets and connecting 10 of them to a biogas system, laying pipelines to transport waste, and constructing a plant where the waste is collected and begins producing gas. Special pipelines are installed to transport the gas produced to households for cooking. Currently, 20 toilets are connected to the system, which has a capacity of 10m³. Due to this success, CCI designed another biogas plant in a nearby neighborhood with a capacity of 20m³, able to connect up to 50 toilets—twice the capacity of the initial project.

The project costs included improving toilets so that each household could be connected to the gas-production system. CCI financed the pipelines as well as the construction costs for the gas plant. Federation groups mobilized the community to participate in the project and formed additional Federation groups in those areas. Community members who were mobilized contributed by offering space for pipeline installation and providing labor during the digging of trenches for the pipelines.

Beneficiary testimony:

“I am very grateful for this project for reaching us low-income people, because we need systems like this to help reduce the daily cost of living. At home I used to spend a lot of money buying cooking energy. In one month, I spent more than 75,000 TZS, which for my life is very high and could be used for other needs such as medical care or buying food, as I am now able to do since I started using this gas. I would like to advise that such projects should be prioritized and implemented in low-income areas to reduce the rising cost of living in households. Now I cook all my meals from morning to evening and prepare all types of food using this gas produced from human waste.”
— Sakina Gumbo (Beneficiary of natural gas from human waste)

CCI continues to conduct research on how to expand the distribution of natural gas derived from human waste so that more people can benefit. Additionally, the organization supports the efforts of H.E. Dr. Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, in developing and innovating alternative energy projects that help reduce the cost of charcoal and electricity. The innovation made by CCI demonstrates the importance of human waste—often considered worthless—as a resource for producing natural gas. CCI has been able to address the high costs of purchasing gas, electricity, and charcoal, since access to this natural gas does not require spending money to buy energy.