Treated wood for cooking is a health risk for caterers and households in townships.

Addressing this issue is the Technology Deployment for Sustainable Urban Development project (TD4SUD), aka the Township Caterers Project, led by Professor Harro Von Blottnitz of UCT's Department of Chemical Engineering.

The research project aims not only to prove this claim, but to establish methods of diminishing harmful emissions.

To this end, the project has collaborated with students from Engineers without Borders and Students in Free Enterprise to design a mass distribution plan for energy-efficient wood stoves.

An awareness event, held at the UCT SHAWCO centre in Nyanga in 13 August, included a live stove demonstration and Q&A session.