Malawi’s solar energy growth creates dangerous lead battery waste crisis in urban slums

In Blantyre, Malawi’s commercial hub, a troubling environmental justice issue is unfolding as the country’s solar energy boom generates mounting piles of toxic lead-acid battery waste. The crisis is most visible in BCA, a low-income settlement where residents like Lagson Gumbo have turned to dangerous battery scavenging as a source of income.

The stark inequality of waste management tells the story clearly: while affluent neighborhoods in BCA receive municipal waste collection services, residents in the adjacent slum have no formal garbage disposal system. Instead, household waste, plastic bottles, old tires, and crucially, expired solar batteries end up dumped directly into local streams and vacant lots. This creates both immediate health hazards and long-term environmental contamination.

At his makeshift workshop beside the polluted waterway, Gumbo demonstrates the risky process many residents have adopted to survive. He extracts lead plates from dead batteries, melting down the toxic metal over a charcoal stove with acid to recover materials for resale. While solar energy represents a clean technology solution for Malawi’s energy needs, the lack of proper battery recycling infrastructure means communities like BCA bear the environmental costs.

This situation highlights a critical challenge facing developing nations embracing renewable energy: without comprehensive waste management systems, the environmental benefits of solar power risk being undermined by toxic legacy pollution in the most vulnerable communities. The lead contamination poses serious health risks, particularly to children, while polluting local water sources that these communities depend on for daily survival.