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STORY: UNEP / KENYA YOUNG CHAMPION OF THE EARTH
TRT: 04:13
SOURCE: UNEP
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 01 JULY 2025, LAKE NAIVASHA, KENYA / 26 AUGUST 2025, NAIROBI, KENYA
01 JULY 2025, LAKE NAIVASHA, KENYA
1. Various shots, Joseph Nguthiru harvesting water hyacinth
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Joseph Nguthiru, Founder and CEO, HyaPak:
“So, 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.”
3. Various shots, Nguthiru harvesting water hyacinth with local fishers
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Joseph Nguthiru, Founder and CEO, HyaPak:
“According to UNEP, water hyacinth is the world's most invasive aquatic weed. It floats on top of water, and it blocks oxygen from reaching underground. And this kills important aquatic life. In addition to that, it also is a problem when it comes to navigation, irrigation, fishing, and important other blue economic activities and also forms a breeding ground for mosquitoes that then cause malaria to the communities living around.”
5. Various shots, Nguthiru harvesting water hyacinth with local fishers
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Joseph Nguthiru, Founder and CEO, HyaPak:
“Our mission at HyaPak is to try and use this invasive weed for something important.”
7. Wide shot, Nguthiru harvesting water hyacinth with local fishers
26 AUGUST 2025, NAIROBI, KENYA
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Joseph Nguthiru, Founder and CEO, HyaPak:
“We create this lining that is put inside cartons that transports food. This keeps food fresh without the need of cold storage and refrigerators over long distances.”
9. Various shots, demonstration of HyaPak carton lining for transport of fresh produce
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Joseph Nguthiru, Founder and CEO, HyaPak:
“For normal trees, you will have to remove the plastic bag so that you can plant the tree. But for ours you insert this seedling into the soil together with the plant. And as it decomposes, it releases nutrients that accelerates the growth rate of this plant.”
11. Various shots, tree planting with Kenya Defense Forces using HyaPak biodegradable seedling bags
01 JULY 2025, LAKE NAIVASHA, KENYA
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Joseph Nguthiru, Founder and CEO, HyaPak:
“What 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.”
26 AUGUST 2025, NAIROBI, KENYA
13. Various shots, processing hyacinth into plastic alternatives
01 JULY 2025, LAKE NAIVASHA, KENYA
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Joseph Nguthiru, Founder and CEO, HyaPak:
“And we hope that we can create a solution right here in Kenya that can be replicated across the world and simultaneously create the ripple benefits in the other countries that are also being faced by similar problems.”
15. Wide shot, Joseph overlooking Naivasha and Great Rift Valley
On Kenya’s Lake Naivasha, thick mats of water hyacinth choke the shoreline, blocking sunlight, depleting oxygen, and threatening local fisheries. For engineer and entrepreneur Joseph Nguthiru, this invasive weed became the raw material for an innovation with global potential.
Nguthiru is now the founder and CEO of HyaPak, a startup transforming water hyacinth into biodegradable alternative materials. Current applications include seedling bags that are planted directly into the soil, releasing nutrients that accelerate growth, and eco-friendly parcel packaging for courier services. The team has also developed carton linings that keep food fresh over long distances, eliminating the need for cold storage.
Nguthiru said, “our solution at HyaPak is to use one problem, water hyacinth, to solve another problem of plastic waste pollution, while creating green jobs for the local communities.”
To date, HyaPak has cleared more than 20 acres of hyacinth from Lake Naivasha and provided new income opportunities for dozens of fishers.
For this achievement, Nguthiru has been named a 2025 Young Champion of the Earth by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Planet A. The award provides funding, mentorship, and global recognition to help scale bold ideas from young environmental innovators.
