The ecobricks can be used time and time again to build green structures that will enhance our communities and environment. People are being encouraged to save their waste plastics and personally help global recycling efforts, collecting plastic litter to make the useful building bricks.
The reusable building blocks are created by packing clean, dry, used plastic tightly into a plastic bottle. Once the bottle has been packed to a set density, it is ready to be used for green building projects. The idea encourages people to take personal responsibility for their own plastic.
www.ecobricks.org / CC BY 4.0
Origins of ecobricks
The concept of ecobricks has been in existence since 2000, when German architect Andreas Froese revealed his bottle-building technique that he had created in South America. However, he was packing bottles with sand, rather than with waste plastic. The concept proved that the bottles were structurally sound.
Three years later, hotel owner Alvaro Molina, a resident of the island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua, came up with an inspired solution for the disposal of plastic waste. She said each member of staff must present two ecobricks before they could receive their salary.
Visitors were also required to present an ecobrick in order to receive the hotel's WiFi password. Soon, a local economy began to build up around the ecobricks and a number of schools have now been built using them.
Global phenomenon
Similar projects have sprung up independently all over the world. In 2010, in the Philippines, Irene Bakisan and Russell Maier developed a curriculum guide to help local schools integrate ecobricks into their building projects. The Department of Education distributed the guide to 1,700 schools between 2010 and 2014, helping them to build green structures.
Hospital custodian Jane Liwan has completed her own unique ecobrick building project in Besao in the northern Philippines. She began collecting one brick at a time, transforming her simple house into a unique and inspirational building that has become a visitor attraction.
Over the years, the art of making ecobricks and using them for building projects has evolved all over the world. Green Antz Builders Inc, a social enterprise in Plaridel, in the Philippines, is making ecobricks that are being used by schools, local government and companies for building projects.
Company CEO, Rommel Benig, founded Green Antz in 2013 in response to the waste plastic crisis, describing the ecobricks they manufacture as stronger and aesthetically superior to regular bricks. While addressing the plastic waste management problem, they are also more cost-effective.
Green village
In Panama, Canadian builder Robert Bezeau devised the idea of creating a whole village from ecobricks on the island of Isla Colon. When completed, it will include 120 homes, an eco-lodge and a shop. Around the world, as well as creating green buildings, people are using ecobricks to build everything from indoor furniture to parks.
Ecobricks are an effective way of recycling plastic, removing it from the biosphere and from recycling systems - while creating a whole new use for drinks bottles! Enough plastic is thrown away every year to circle the earth four times - 35 billion plastic bottles are thrown away annually in America alone and 13 billion plastic bottles are used each year in the UK. Ecobricks could be very useful indeed.
Solent Plastics promotes recycling and the responsible use of plastic products. We recognise the importance of preserving the environment for future generations.
Suitable for commercial, industrial and home use, we stock a large range of Euronorm ECO recycled plastic Euro containers made from recycled polypropylene.
We also sell recycling waste bins to help schools, businesses and organisations with their own recycling initiatives – we’ve even started our own personal ecobricks!