Communities transform plastic waste into eco-bricks for a more sustainable future
- February 26, 2025
Local communities in Davao City and Cebu are transforming facility waste from a problem into a solution, promoting a circular economy of resource recycling.
Partnering with various organizations, AboitizPower’s Therma South and Therma Visayas power plants launched the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities through Kaibigans or BRICK Hub Project. These hubs transform plastic waste and fly ash, a byproduct of coal combustion in power plants, into eco-bricks and eco-pavers. These high-value and environment-friendly construction materials are used to build infrastructure in nearby communities.
The project’s technical partner, Green Antz Builders, Inc., supplied the eco-brick model and the required skills training to the brick makers and installers. Around a hundred plastic sachets are mixed with fly ash and a special mixture by Green Antz to produce an eco-brick, which is nine times stronger than the typical hollow block.
To encourage plastic waste collection in the host communities, residents can trade their bags of plastic sachets for sacks of rice or school supplies at designated collection points and eco-stores. The cooperatives that operate the BRICK Hub hire community members to produce and sell the eco-bricks and eco-pavers, providing livelihood to people in the communities.
In Cabitoonan, Toledo City, members of Toledo’s United Farmers, Fishermen, and Women Workers (TUFFWOW), manage an Eco-brick Hub that has been retrofitted with machinery for brick production. The project began in 2022 in collaboration with Therma Visayas Incorporated (TVI), a subsidiary of Aboitiz Power Corporation (AboitizPower).
“Our livelihood consists of eco-bricks. We produce bricks and hollow blocks by blending plastic and other common materials,” TUFFWOW Liaison Officer, Manny Ducor, shared. “This allows our organization to generate sustainable revenue through the production of eco-bricks and hollow blocks. Currently, our inventory consists of around 7,000 eco-bricks. Therefore, TVI has greatly benefitted us, as we lack the capacity to produce eco-bricks on our own.”
“Given the resilience of eco-bricks and eco-pavers, as well as its positive contribution to solid waste management, some local government units have also shown interest in replicating the BRICK Hub in support of sustainable infrastructure development in their localities,” AboitizPower said in a statement.
Sources:
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2029506/aboitizpower-turns-waste-collection-into-a-purposeful-activity
