At HyaPak, we use one environmental problem to solve another. We turn water hyacinth, the world's most invasive aquatic weed, into biodegradable packaging that looks, feels, and performs like plastic, then quietly returns to soil (or water).
Only 45% of it is recycled (World Bank). Single-use plastics are responsible for roughly 1.5% of all global greenhouse-gas emissions, a quiet driver of climate change, and they outlast the bottle, the bag, the wrapper by centuries.
The world's most problematic aquatic weed. It floats on water and blocks navigation and fishing, chokes drainage and hydropower, starves the water of oxygen until fish and biodiversity collapse, and breeds mosquitoes in fresh water bodies globally.
[A] + [B] What if one mess could clean up the other?
Harvest the weed. Extract its cellulose. Mold the future of packaging.
HyaPak started, quite literally, by getting stuck. A group of Egerton University students trapped for five hours in a dense mat of water hyacinth on Lake Naivasha.
That afternoon framed two problems in the same body of water: an invasive weed strangling the lake, and the plastic waste piling up on its shore. We started asking a research question out of curiosity; WHAT IF one problem could one solve the other?
What began as a final-year project is now a team of engineers, designers, community members and lab researchers building packaging that looks, feels and performs like plastic, grown from the very weed clogging the lake.
Fishermen and fisherwomen and lakeside communities around the affected waterbodies pull the hyacinth weeds from the water. This creates additional income for them, green jobs, and a real economic incentive to keep the lake clear.
The biomass is laid out to dry in the equatorial sun, then mechanically crushed into a fine, fibrous flour. No heat-intensive industrial drying, just sunlight, air and a low-energy mill.
Inside our workshops, cellulose is extracted from the fibre and blended with our proprietary plant-based binders and additives. The recipe tunes for rigidity, flex, moisture and heat depending on the end use.
The composite is moulded into seedling bags, plates, tumblers, wrappers and custom packaging that are drop-in replacements for fossil-fuel plastics. At end of life, it biodegrades back to soil in custom time, between 3 to 12 months.
We mould to spec. Drop-in replacements for the everyday plastics in food, beauty, e-commerce and retail, without the centuries of afterlife.
A circular, community-led model that joins the blue economy to climate action — cleaner lakes, restored biodiversity, durable livelihoods, and measurable progress against several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
06At the highest level
HyaPak's biodegradable seedling bag presented to Kenya's Head of State, H.E. President William Ruto by founder Joseph Nguthiru, and the team from Egerton University as part of Kenya's Jaza Miti reforestation programme to plant 15 billion trees by 2032.
PHOTO © STATE HOUSE KENYA
Our material is already being harvested, planted and shipped alongside the organisations rethinking how landscapes are restored and how goods are packed in forestry and agriculture, FMCG, and logistic services.
HyaPak is recognized and trusted in sustainability, manufacturing and innovation around the world, from Nairobi to Dubai and the UN General Assembly.
United Nations Environment Programme & Planet A
COP28 · Nature, Food & Water Systems
Outstanding project
KEPRO SPICE Awards, Kenya
Winning Project
Yale Africa Startup Review
East Africa Science & Tech Commission
Kenya Innovation Week
As seen on
A wordplay of Hyacinth + Packaging.
YES. Big YES. Within 3 to 12 months of discarding, expect to see the product gone… like really gone for good. The exact timeline depends on what we intend the product to do; its use case.
We obtain water hyacinth from Lake Naivasha and Lake Victoria in Kenya, with the help of fishermen and fisherwomen from the affected lakeside communities. We create green jobs and provide an extra source of income for them through this.
We sell predominantly in Kenya, and occasionally ship to Germany and the USA. We also have pilots in discussions in El Salvador and India.
Probably. If it is an interesting packaging challenge that needs to be made sustainable, we're probably down for it. Reach out via the form below and let's talk it through.
Water hyacinth is the most problematic aquatic weed in the world, affecting more than 70 countries. It is also among world's fastest growing plants. Tough challenge to eliminate it.
We are based at Egerton University, Nakuru, Kenya. You're welcome to visit after setting up a date with us via the contact form.
We mobilise people at community level to clean up a section of a river running beside their community. In one weekend, we clear 10–20 metres, while teaching the importance of environmental restoration and sustainability.
10Let's talk
Order, partner, research, visit our lab in Nakuru, or simply say hi. Whatever it is, a real human on our team will read your note and write back.