TAKING OUT THE TRASH
Ecobricks just might be the solution to SA’s housing and single-use plastic problem!
With our planet choking on plastic, doing our bit to stop pollution is now imperative. Easy-to-make ecobricks (get the kids involved) are both a useful contribution to the cleanup campaign and a low-cost building solution. So instead of binning that sweet wrapper, stuff it into a plastic bottle instead – you’ll be making a difference.
According to The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), a staggering eight million metric tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year. The environmental consequences are dire: annually, plastic pollution accounts for the death of over a million sea birds and 100 000 marine mammals.
South Africa is one of the world’s top tourist destinations, but we’ve also earned a ranking we can’t be quite as proud of: we are at number 11 of the 20 countries responsible for releasing the most plastic into the sea. Plastic waste accounts for 94 percent of all our beach pollution.
The elimination of single-use plastic is the goal, but it’s not always easy to implement, especially for those living in poor communities without access to basic amenities and waste removal. As an interim solution to the plastic crisis, ecobricks could well be the key to educating people about waste, clearing communities of plastic pollution and providing valuable skills to those who need them most.
An ecobrick is a two-litre plastic cool drink bottle filled with clean, nonrecyclable waste such as sweet wrappers, chip packets, clingwrap, cellophane and polystyrene, which gets compressed, using a stick, until the bottle can no longer be squeezed. The bottles are then interlocked, stacked in a frame and plastered. They have high insulation value and, as long as they are shielded
from sunlight, will not degrade. (It can take 450 years!) And once enclosed in caged membranes and correctly detailed, they become fire- and even bullet-proof.
The idea apparently originated in Guatemala. Using plastic water bottles stuffed with waste, a village woman accumulated enough ecobricks to build a home. When environmental activist Susana Heisse learned about this, she saw the potential to tackle pollution while providing environmental education and building skills in rural areas. She taught school children to make ecobricks, which she exchanged for school supplies. After Hurricane Stan hit the region in 2005, ecobricks were a lifesaver for villagers who had to rebuild their homes. The idea spread to neighbouring communities and soon inspired a global movement.
There are now 38 ecobrick schools in Guatemala. In the northern Philippines, Jane Liwan’s ecobrick home, complete with mosaics made from glass bottles filled with water and food colouring, has become a tourist attraction that has inspired others in the community to reduce their waste.
The concept reached South Africa via Joseph Stodgel, a US artist, musician and entrepreneur, who had heard about Greyton, which aims to become SA’s first plastic-free town. ‘Greyton is a beautiful, pristine place,’ he says. ‘But pristine sites are usually host to festivals, and they are often degraded and polluted as a result.’
Using the festival itself to drive rehabilitation, the Trash to Treasure idea was born, hosting musicians performing on stages made from recycled materials, with festival-goers exchanging ecobricks for prizes.
At the festival was architect Ian Dommisse, who began to wonder why there wasn’t widespread use of ecobricks in SA. ‘We have so much waste and so much need for shelter and employment; it seemed an obvious solution,’ he says.
IN
2013 Ian gave up his job to concentrate solely on ecobricks, teaming up with a few like-minded people to start the EcoBrick Exchange (EBE) in Port Elizabeth. The plan was to incorporate ecobricks in building structures like low-cost housing or schools, thereby protecting the environment from plastic, educating communities to make them more environmentally conscious, and creating ways to support townships, rural communities and early childhood development.
EBE’s first task was to find a project that would set the precedent and show others that it could be done. That’s when Ian met Blommie Nontshinga, who runs Penguins Play & Learn Centre for 50 children from a shack in her backyard in Walmer township. ‘I was blown away by Blommie’s passion. She stood out for me as being a dedicated community leader.’
It was the perfect first project, but it was never going to be easy. ‘No one had had a building like this approved before and everyone was too scared to try,’ says Ian. It took 32 months to get the plans approved, ‘so it ended up costing a lot more than we thought it would. And frustratingly, it hasn’t been built yet’.
However, they have teamed up with various NGOs in PE and abroad to get the project started again. They’ve now also set up a GoFundMe campaign to ensure that they can build the school by the end of the year.
The silver lining was that the approval of the Penguins Play & Learn Centre renovations sparked other projects, among them one with the City of
Cape Town in 2017, on the Delft ECD (Early Childhood Development) Centre campus, which was built using reclaimed material including ecobricks, tyres and glass bottles. ‘We worked with schools within the area on an ecobrick programme to gather supplies for the centre but also clean the area of plastic,’ says Ian.
‘The great thing about ecobricks is that anyone can make them,’ he says. ‘It’s an amazing way to kickstart a community to protect the environment and create interesting structures. I call ecobricking a gateway drug; once you start making them and notice how your waste output suddenly halves, you get hooked! You’re more likely to recycle and compost, until you’re throwing nothing away.’
The EBE was named Campaign of the Year at the annual PET Recycling Company (PETCO) Awards; PETCO is South Africa’s recycling body for PET plastics. ‘Receiving the award from PETCO was such an honour, given their incredible track record within the country’s recycling industry,’ says Ian.
But what he is most excited about now is the EBE’s IKEA-inspired EcoBrick Maker Kit for benches, bookshelves, a standing work desk, recycling bins, raised vegetable gardens and even a pop-up bar counter.
The EBE has come a long way from its initial project and now also works with NGOs, offering training on how ecobricking can uplift communities.
‘The aim behind this venture is to equip people to take matters into their own hands. We use the ecobrick as a vehicle to turn challenges into opportunities,’ says Ian. ‘The desired outcome of this project is not just environmental awareness, but to give people the tools to improve their situation, one ecobrick at a time.’