00:00In Salvador, Brazil, used palm oil is being turned from an environmental problem into a source of green energy.
00:08The reddish-orange waste has often flowed into local waters, straining areas shared by beach goers, kayakers and turtles.
00:17Now, a new recycle initiative involving Salvador City Hall, Petrobras and local food vendors aims to change that.
00:25The City Hall is now encouraging hundreds of women to join by offering incentives and licenses intended to help their
00:32businesses operate in a more environmentally sound way.
00:36Bayanas can receive over 60 cent dollars for every litre of palm oil they turn in.
00:43But today, everyone, at least we Bayanas, we know we can't just throw it away.
00:48Everyone from the Bayana, the Kakaraji Association, does not throw it away.
00:53The project is collecting oil left over from Akaraji, a traditional Bayan fritter made from black-eyed peas and onions
01:02filled with shrimp and served with sauce.
01:05The goal is eventually to convert up to 6 million litres of waste oil a year into energy.
01:11Palm oil, known in Brazil as Azeite de Dend, has been part of Bayanas cuisine for centuries.
01:18It arrived with enslaved Africans in the 1530s and is now used in dishes including akaraji, mokeka and vatapa.
01:27Cooperatives doing this door-to-door pickup have limited visibility.
01:31With the City Hall's power, we can explain to everyone that not only the recycling cooperative benefit from it, but
01:38all society.
01:40More than 3500 women, known as Bayanas, sell akaraji across Salvador, often described as the blackest city outside Africa.
01:49They are central to the recycling scheme.
01:51We can explain to everyone where they are going to go.
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