South Africans could soon be lathering their luscious locks with waste chicken feathers.
That’s thanks to a first-of-its-kind, R37.5-million biorefinery facility, where scientists can extract the keratin from chicken feathers to make shampoo and conditioner, and turn mill sludge into biogas and plastics and dust shavings into chemicals.
Science and Technology Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane opened the Biorefinery Industry Development Facility at the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Durban on Tuesday. The facility is set to address South Africa’s biomass waste challenges. Biomass refers to the process of producing energy by burning wood and other organic matter.
According to the CSIR, waste is a valuable resource with an estimated value of at least R25.2-billion per annum.
However the value of recyclable waste, which is believed to be in excess of R17-billion per annum, is currently lost to the SA economy through landfilling.
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