Kenya has committed to planting 15 billion trees by 2032 under the Forestry
and Land Restoration Acceleration Program — known locally as Jaza Miti.
Conventionally, that means 15 billion plastic seedling bags to manufacture, transport,
cut off, collect and dispose of. We have a better idea.
The simple swap
HyaPak’s biodegradable seedling wrappers are designed to be planted with
the seedling. No bag to remove. No plastic to gather, ship and landfill. The wrapper
biodegrades into the soil over about six months, releasing nutrients — phosphorus and
nitrogen, the very ones that fed the hyacinth in the lake — that accelerate
the seedling’s growth as it goes.
For normal trees, you have to remove the plastic bag to plant. For ours, you insert
the seedling into the soil together with the bag. As it decomposes, it releases
nutrients that accelerate the growth rate of the plant.
— HyaPak on UNifeed
Pilot partners already in the field
We’ve spent the past 18 months distributing HyaPak seedling wrappers to:
- Kenya Forest Research Institute (KEFRI) — for in-field comparison studies against conventional plastic bags.
- Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) — through their tree-planting initiatives across military land. The KDF subsequently presented HyaPak’s applications to King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands.
- One Acre Fund — distributed to smallholder farmers across Kenya.
- Plant Village & private farmers — pilots running across multiple counties.
- One Tree Planted — through a partnership to expand reforestation impact.
What’s next
Scale. 15 billion is not a small number. The next 24 months are about industrialising
our moulding capacity, expanding hyacinth supply to Lake Victoria, and tightening unit
economics so that the seedling wrapper is the obvious choice — not just the
sustainable one.
If you’re a government or NGO partner running a planting programme and would like
to talk, get in touch. We’re already in conversation with replication partners in
India and El Salvador.
