Plastic Waste to Bricks in the Philippines: Xinhua

Plastic sachets are the plastic bags used to package and redistribute bulk supplies of all types of food and other small items. The Philippines, an economy that participates in such repackaging, uses about 60 billion plastic sachets each year, suggests the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. Engineers in the Philippines have developed a process that shreds and mixes such plastic waste with cement to produce bricks. “Green Antz Builders started as an advocacy among friends in 2012, but grew to become a social enterprise that produces eco-friendly construction hollow blocks, called ‘ecobricks,’ made of plastic sachets and other non-recyclable wastes,” reports Xinhua. “An ecobrick is composed of 100 plastic laminates, shredded and then mixed with wet cement. This mixture is poured into a brick-pressing machine that the group also invented. The finished product can be used to build various infrastructures, from houses to schools, and buildings.” The plastic contributes to strength and durability and acts as an insulator, keeping buildings coolor, the company reports. Green Antz Builders also involves communities in the project, encouraging them to collect used plastic bags to receive discounts on bricks and other products. – YaleGlobal