Narrator: This invasive weed is choking lakes
and rivers around the world.
Water hyacinths now clog waterways in over 50 countries,
including Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake
in Southeast Asia.
Sounsrors: The people there cannot travel easily
when it grows super thick.
And also, the living things under the water die.
Narrator: So far, exterminating the plant has proven
impossible for the 1.5 million people who live here.
Now, locals are removing the pest with their bare hands
and giving new life to the dry stems.
We went to Cambodia to see
how local women are making fashionable bags
from worldwide waste.
Water hyacinth is native to the Amazon.
But over the past century,
humans helped it spread to places it never should have been.
Kit: It's been transported all over the world
because it's beautiful.
It's an ornamental plant species.
Narrator: Dr. Kit Magellan is an ecologist
who studies invasive plants.
It's native to the upper reaches of the Amazon basin.
Most of the transport occurred
during the early 20th century.
Narrator: In the Amazon,
weevils and moths keep the hyacinths in check.
But without predators, the plants can double
in size every two weeks.
They block out light and oxygen
and kill all kinds of other species.
That's a big problem for Tonle Sap's floating villages.
Kit: Tonle Sap is the heart of Cambodia.
This is a unique ecosystem,
and the villages around there have a
rather unique lifestyle.
Narrator: The hyacinths create so much waste
that they're harming stocks of staple foods.
And they make it harder to get around.
Many times, we got stuck for a few hours
in the middle of the water hyacinth lake.
Narrator: Hor Sounsrors runs Rokhak,
a company that hires women to remove the weeds by hand
and then weave the stems into baskets, rugs,
and other handicrafts.
She says she wanted to help local women earn a living
while dealing with the plant
that makes their way of life more difficult.
Sounsrors: Many women, they still live in the circle of grown up
and get married in the young age.
I want them to be employed and to get some training.
Narrator: Today, four weavers work for Rokhak.
They can bundle as many as 200 hyacinth stalks at a time.
They bring them back onto shore to dry in the sun
for up to two weeks.
Then they wash them.
Narrator: The women lay the stems out
on top of this wooden platform
and steam the plants over charcoal
to kill bacteria and get the right color.
Hor: After the steaming,
our weavers would select the size of water hyacinth stem.
Narrator: They use small stems for coasters
and medium ones for bags and baskets.
The largest stems will become rugs.
Hor: Our weaving is based on our traditional weaving.
You can see from our weaving style
and also the fabric that we use.
This one we made for one of the apartments in Siem Reap.
Narrator: One rug can take three women
over a month to weave.
But at Rokhak, women can make up to $300
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what the average Cambodian earns in a month.
There are millions of people around the world struggling
with water hyacinths,
and they've found all kinds of solutions.
In Bangladesh, locals farm on top of mats made
from the invasive plant.
Mechanical harvesters on Lake Victoria in Kenya
keep the plants in check, but they're expensive to operate.
Local entrepreneurs there have found success helping the
weeds break down into biogas for cooking
and compost for growing crops.
In Nigeria, a startup similar to Rokhak also employs women
to make handicrafts.
One thing we have to remember
about all of these uses is they're probably not sustainable.
So they're only short-term solutions
to the problem of this invasive species.
Because if we create an industry using this species,
then we're going to create a demand for this species.
Narrator: Rokhak's weavers say they're making an impact
on the environment, despite their small workforce.
Narrator: But the hyacinths reproduce far faster
than the company's four employees can harvest them.
Still, Hor Sounsrors has succeeded
in one part of her mission —
to give the women of Tonle Sap an opportunity
to support their families.
Hor: I used to question myself how to be independent
when I grown up.
This is what I would like to see in the other women.