Tunisian recycling invention already patented by German company
Tunisia’s new recycling invention, turning phosphate waste into paper, has already been patented by a German company operating in Morocco. According to The Africa Report on 31 December, inventor Abdul Samad Al-Kribi was first for his highly publicised invention at the palace in Carthage, Tunisia, to discuss his process for transforming phosphate waste into paper.
People saw this novel idea as a ‘made-in-Tunisia invention’ that could generate a lot of income for the country. Despite all this, the technology was already being used and patented by German company, Easy Mining Germany.
At the same time, another project, Kumulus, devised by Tunisians Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid, has received significantly less attention in the media or on social networks. This Tunisian invention provides atmospheric water generators, that could supply safe drinking water, solving shortages and aiding countries affected by climate change.
This is not the first instance of fake Tunisian discoveries, the Winou el petrole (Where is the oil?) movement in 2018–2020 mobilised street protestors on the false idea that Tunisia contained a multitude of oil fields that were being siphoned off by ‘foreigners’ who were “stealing” the resources in the region.
Winou el petrole was revived in March 2023, after the United States Geological Survey (USGS) discovered two major oil and gas deposits between Tunisia and Libya.
Similarly, in January 2023, a social-media led fake discovery led to the proliferation of ‘gold fever’, after the Facebook page Houna Tounes claimed that the region of Le Kef in Tunisia was filled with gold. In actuality, the only real precious resource found in that area is wheat. This is not the only false finding of that year, as a man found gemstones in his garden that were said to be a multitude of diamonds. When examined in a lab the “diamonds” were found to only be quartz.
These instances reflect Tunisians’ hunger for miracle finds, a desire possibly explained by the fact real projects generally take a long time. For example, the Medical City in Kairouan, was first unveiled in 2020 by President Kaïs Saïed. This would be a huge undertaking meaning that five years on the project remains only on paper due to lack of funds and administrative delays. It is thought the development of this city will take 20-30 years to be finished, as opposed to the immediate results achieved through a miracle find.
The Africa Report
