Brazil’s Salvador city is launching an initiative to turn waste palm oil from its iconic acarajé street food into green energy, in an effort to reduce pollution in the city’s waterways and beaches.
The project, involving Salvador City Hall, state-owned oil company Petrobras and potentially thousands of local food vendors, aims to collect and recycle up to six million litres of used palm oil annually.
Salvador, the capital of Bahia state, is known for its acarajé, an African-inspired delicacy made from peeled black-eyed peas and onions, filled with shrimp and served with sauce.
However, discarded palm oil from the preparation of the popular snack has contributed to pollution, with reddish-orange waste sometimes flowing into the city’s waters around beaches and other areas.
Palm oil, known locally as azeite de dendê, was brought to Bahia by enslaved Africans beginning in the 1530s, according to historians. It has since become a staple of Bahian cuisine, featuring in dishes such as acarajé, moqueca fish stew and vatapá, a paste made with bread, shrimp, coconut milk and ground peanuts.
More than 3,500 women, known as baianas, sell acarajé from stalls across Salvador, often described as the “blackest city outside Africa.” They are expected to play a key role in supplying the recycling programme.
City authorities are encouraging the vendors to participate by offering incentives and licences aimed at promoting more environmentally sustainable business practices.
Under the initiative, participating baianas can receive three Brazilian reais, about 60 US cents, for every litre of used palm oil they hand over for recycling.
In some cases, the cooperative involved in the programme also provides soap made from recycled palm oil.
The initiative is encouraging vendors to change long-standing disposal practices. Used palm oil had previously been poured into drains or discarded elsewhere, contributing to clogged sewage systems and pollution along Salvador’s beaches.
Officials hope the programme will simultaneously reduce environmental pollution, provide an additional incentive for local vendors and turn a common waste product into a source of renewable energy.
