The Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) has committed $3.3 million in equity to support the expansion of Sanivation’s waste‑to‑value operations in Kenya, marking a significant boost for circular-economy sanitation infrastructure in the region. Sanivation, working in partnership with Nakuru County, launched a pilot initiative in 2018 that converts human waste into environmentally friendly solid fuel briquettes used by industrial customers for thermal energy.
Building on the success of this model, PIDG’s equity investment—channeled through its project development arm, InfraCo—will finance the expansion of the Naivasha Treatment Plant, enabling Sanivation to substantially increase both its waste treatment capacity and briquette production volume. In addition to the equity injection, PIDG has provided a $500,000 technical assistance grant to further strengthen project implementation.
Commenting on the milestone, Emily Woods, CEO and co‑founder of Sanivation, said:
This investment marks a turning point, not just for Sanivation, but for how sanitation infrastructure can be delivered across Kenya and the region. With PIDG’s support, we’re scaling a model that transforms waste into clean energy, enabling financial sustainability while safeguarding our environment and empowering our communities.
Sanivation’s model integrates waste treatment with circular-economy energy production. The company treats faecal sludge, blending it with by‑products from local sawmills and agricultural processors. Through a controlled thermal process, this mixture is transformed into high‑performance briquettes that burn longer and more efficiently than traditional firewood. For industrial energy users, the briquettes can reduce fuel costs by 10–30%, while providing a cleaner and more sustainable alternative to biomass and charcoal.
The expanded Naivasha facility is expected to treat waste equivalent to that produced by 100,000 to 130,000 households. This will relieve pressure on overburdened municipal wastewater systems, reduce illegal dumping, and help prevent contamination of farmland surrounding Lake Naivasha, as well as pollution of the lake itself—an ecosystem critical to the local economy, including agriculture, tourism, and floriculture.
Sanivation’s scale‑up represents a model of how innovative sanitation and clean‑energy solutions can deliver environmental protection, resource recovery, and long‑term financial sustainability in rapidly urbanizing regions.
