There is a change in the air at the Tea Factory in Thika, Kenya.It is free of the dark smoke that rises from the boilers of Kenya's other tea factories.The Makomboki company has begun to use a less costly and more environmentally friendly fuel.Instead of burning wood, the tea maker is burning briquettes made of plant and animal material waste.The Kenya Tea Development Authority supervises 66 tea factories in the country.Makomboki is the only one that does not use firewood in tea production.Its factory is deep in central Kenya's hilly and fertile tea-growing Muranga county.John Gitau is the manager at the factory. He expressed excitement about the change in fuel at the factory.He said Makomboki has not used a single cubic meter of firewood in the last six months.In 2010, the International Trade Center started a training project.It aimed to teach Kenyan tea makers new production methods that would help limit the release of climate change gases.
