{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"HyaPak","provider_url":"https:\/\/hyapak.com\/es","author_name":"admin","author_url":"https:\/\/hyapak.com\/es\/author\/hyapakco\/","title":"Learn - HyaPak","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"IXKZDBMVOF\"><a href=\"https:\/\/hyapak.com\/es\/learn\/\">Aprende<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/hyapak.com\/es\/learn\/embed\/#?secret=IXKZDBMVOF\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"\u00abLearn\u00bb \u2014 HyaPak\" data-secret=\"IXKZDBMVOF\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/hyapak.com\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>","description":"Learn &amp; research a reference hub A libraryfor the curious. Free reference material for students, educators, researchers, journalists and impact investors working on water hyacinth, plastic pollution, bioplastics, the blue economy and circular-economy climate solutions in East Africa. Cite us, link us, share us. 01Water hyacinth 02The plastic crisis 03Bioplastics 101 04Our circular model 05Adopt a River 06Glossary 07Cite us 01 \u00b7 Eichhornia crassipes Water hyacinth. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is a free-floating aquatic plant native to South America. It is one of the world&#8217;s most invasive aquatic species, classified as such by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and listed by UNEP as the world&#8217;s most problematic aquatic weed. Across more than 70 countries it blocks navigation, fishing nets and irrigation; depletes oxygen in the water, killing fish; obstructs hydroelectric power generation; and creates breeding grounds for mosquitoes that spread malaria. It is a quiet, slow-motion economic and ecological emergency. 70+ countries affected $1B+ annual global economic loss 25% of Lake Naivasha&#8217;s surface (peak) On Kenya&#8217;s Lake Naivasha, a 1,480-hectare biodiversity gem in the Rift Valley, water hyacinth has at times carpeted a quarter of the surface, threatening the livelihoods of the 2,500+ people who depend on the lake&#8217;s fishing economy. A 2023 review in the East African Journal of Environment and Natural Resources puts the annual loss across Kenya&#8217;s lakes Naivasha and Lake Victoria at up to US&nbsp;$350&nbsp;million in fishing, transport and tourism. Why it spreads so fast What makes water hyacinth so formidable is its sheer reproductive speed. Under warm, nutrient-rich conditions a single mat can double in size in as little as five to fifteen days, reproducing both vegetatively. Either by sending out daughter plants on horizontal runners called stolons, or by seed. A mature plant can release thousands of seeds that sink to the lakebed and remain viable for 15 to 20 years, which is why an infestation that looks cleared can rebound after a single season of rain. The lakes feed it. Fertiliser run-off, untreated sewage and soil erosion load Lake Naivasha and Lake Victoria with nitrogen and phosphorus, the exact nutrients the weed craves. In effect, the hyacinth is a symptom of a wider problem: it flourishes precisely where human activity has over-enriched the water. Removing the plant treats the symptom; the nutrients it locks up are what HyaPak captures and returns, productively, to the soil. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) was introduced to Africa (and most places around the world) as an ornamental pond plant in the early 1900s for its lavender flower. It reached Lake Victoria in the late 1980s and by the late 1990s had blanketed an estimated 20,000 hectares of the lake. At the time, the largest known infestation on Earth. Fig. 01 \u2014 Global distribution of water hyacinth. Native range (South America) vs. invasive range (70+ countries). Source: HyaPak, UN Environment Program (UNEP), after CABI &amp; IUCN. Fig. 02 \u2014 Lake Naivasha from orbit. The bright-green halo around the western shore, and along the edges, is water hyacinth. Source: Copernicus Sentinel-2, January 2025. When the lake rises +10 m Hyacinth doesn&#8217;t just choke the water, it pushes the lake into people&#8217;s homes. Dense mats trap rising lake water against the shoreline, slowing drainage and amplifying flooding. Whole streets in shoreline communities now navigate by boat. Clearing the weed is no longer just an ecology problem; it is a livelihoods and housing emergency. Photo \u00a9 third-party rights-holder \u00b7 used for educational reference. 02 \u00b7 Single-use plastic The plastic crisis. Single-use plastics are responsible for an estimated 1.5% of all global greenhouse-gas emissions. This is a measurable contributor to climate change. They are designed to be used once, often for minutes, and then persist in the environment for centuries. Nairobi alone generates around 480 tonnes of plastic waste every day, and only &lt;30% of it is recycled (World Bank). Kenya banned single-use plastic bags in 2017, creating an urgent need for credible alternatives. 480 t plastic \/ day in Nairobi &lt;30% recycled 1.5% of global GHGs The afterlife of a plastic bag A conventional plastic bag is used, on average, for about 12 minutes then takes centuries to break down. It never truly disappears: it fragments into ever-smaller microplastics that wash into lakes and rivers, are eaten by fish, and climb the food chain back onto our plates. Microplastics have now been found in tap water, table salt, rainfall and human blood. Plastic is also a fossil-fuel product. More than 99% of it is made from oil and gas, and emissions are released at every stage, from extraction, refining, moulding and, eventually, incineration. Producing and burning single-use plastics is what links them so directly to the climate crisis. In 2017 Kenya introduced one of the world&#8217;s strictest bans on single-use plastic bags, with penalties of up to US&nbsp;$38,000 or four years in prison. In 2020 the ban was extended to protected areas including national parks, beaches and conservation zones. The law created demand; it did not, on its own, create a credible material to replace what it outlawed. That gap is where HyaPak works. Fig. 03 \u2014 The plastic afterlife. Single-use plastics persist in waterways for centuries, and break down into microplastics. Source: stock reference, open-licence. 03 \u00b7 Process Bioplastics 101. A bioplastic is a plastic-like material made from biological inputs. Not every bioplastic biodegrades and many &#8220;compostable&#8221; plastics only do so in industrial facilities. We design HyaPak material to fully biodegrade in normal soil conditions, leaving no microplastic residue, in 3 to 12 months depending on the product. The HyaPak recipe is: dried, milled water hyacinth + proprietary plant-based binders + additives, mixed and moulded. The cellulose backbone is what gives our material its rigidity; the binders tune for properties such as moisture resistance, heat tolerance and flex. Egerton University&#8217;s Department of Civil &amp; Environmental Engineering helped develop and continues to refine the process. The university provided our first lab space, and treats the venture as both research and a teaching tool. &#8220;Bioplastic&#8221; doesn&#8217;t always mean"}