Ugandans consume large quantities of bananas. A local start-up believes it can extract more benefits from the overlooked and worthless parts of the plant.
Tex Fade uses natural banana fibers to produce environmentally friendly materials such as biodegradable carpets and hair extensions.
When farmers cut bananas from trees, they leave the huge, bulbous stems to decompose. Tex Food extracts fibers from parts of tree trunks that farmers usually burn or dispose of.
“When I looked, I saw that bananas grow in abundance in this country … there is a lot of waste from banana gardens,” said Kimani Motory, managing director and founder of the company.
He added that “Tex Fade” is experimenting with different forms of banana fiber, such as the production of carpets and hair extension products.
“The hair extension strands that we make are highly biodegradable … After use, women go to bury them in the ground to become fertilizer,” he said. According to “Reuters”.
The company is also conducting tests of a process aimed at making banana fibers soft in texture so that they become like cotton so that they can be used in clothing production.
And one day recently at the Tex Food factory in Mukono, east of the capital, Kampala, young men gathered banana tree trunks in a pile before dividing them in half using machetes and placing them in a machine.
Long leather fibers that were hung on a rope come dry before being treated and used to make carpets and hair extensions.
Motory expects the company will manufacture 2,400 carpets this year, more than double production last year. The company, which employs 23 employees, achieved sales of about $ 41,000 last year, its best figures since its launch in 2013.
The company expects to export carpets for the first time in June to customers in the United States, Britain and Canada.
Motory believes that light organic matter could replace some synthetic fibers and be used to make paper products such as banknotes, as well as a host of other potential uses.