00:00On Kenya's Lake Navaisha, water hyacinth is choking the shoreline, killing fish and livelihoods.
00:09But for engineer Joseph Nuguthuru, this invasive menace became the spark for a game-changing, eco-friendly innovation.
00:18According to UNEP, water hyacinth is the world's most invasive aquatic weed.
00:22It flows on top of water and it blocks oxygen from reaching underground and this kills important aquatic life.
00:28In addition to that, it also is a problem when it comes to navigation, irrigation, fishing and important other blue economic activities.
00:36And also forms a breeding ground for mosquitoes that then cause malaria to the communities living around.
00:42Joseph is now the founder and CEO of Hyapak, a start-up transforming water hyacinth into biodegradable alternative materials.
00:51So our solution at Hyapak is to use one problem of water hyacinth to solve yet another problem of plastic waste pollution while creating green jobs for the local communities.
01:03What makes our solution unique is that we are filling in the vacuum of making products that feel like plastics, perform like plastics, but they are going to biodegrade and disintegrate after a short time.
01:14One of Hyapak's key innovations is seedling bags that are planted directly into the soil, releasing nutrients that boost growth, a solution that is eco-friendly.
01:26For normal trees, you will have to remove the plastic bag so that you can plant the tree.
01:31But for hours, you insert this seedling into the soil to gather the plant.
01:36And as it decomposes, it releases nutrients that accelerate the growth rate of these plants.
01:41So far, Joseph and his team have cleared more than 20 acres of hyacinth from Lake Navaisha, work that has earned him the 2025 Young Champion of the Earth Award from the United Nations Environment Programme.
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