Creating social value by recycling waste plastic into construction materials
Catherine Weetman talks to Andy Bownds, the founder of Eco Brixs, in Uganda.
Eco Brixs Mission is "To create green, environmentally friendly, sustainable solutions to lift people out of abject poverty in Uganda”, and it does that by giving trash – waste plastic – a value. That means anyone in the community can recycle.
With no formal waste management system in Uganda, plastic can be seen everywhere. Discarded on roadsides, littered throughout markets and burning on rubbish heaps, plastic waste is creating a devastating impact on both Uganda’s environment and the human population.
Seeing this impact led Andy and his team to find a solution to Uganda’s plastic problem.
Eco Brixs started out in 2017. Frustrated with the lack of waste management systems in Masaka, Andy Bownds and his team started collecting plastic in his back garden, and after collecting 2 tonnes, decided to start a simple plastic collection facility called ‘Masaka Recycling Initiative’.
It soon became clear that the size and scale of the problem was far greater than what anyone had envisaged – 90 per cent of plastic in Uganda goes to landfill or is illegally burnt. The small percentage of plastic waste is recycled is typically shipped to China and India rather than supporting the local economy. They began to investigate more effective ways to recycle plastic which would help support the local communities and economy. After 6 months of research and knocking on countless doors, they developed an innovative plastic-sand composite paver which has been proven to be stronger, lighter and more durable than concrete.
Fast-forward to 2019, and Masaka Recycling Initiative has now evolved into 'Eco Brixs’, one of the largest recycling facilities outside of Kampala. Eco Brixs has received backing from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Queen’s Commonwealth Trust and with partnerships with organisations including Coca Cola, Masaka Diocese and Buganda Kingdom, and has plans to expand to other communities.
In just a couple of years, Eco Brixs has made a significant impact, with over 1000 individuals receiving extra income from the plastic waste chain created by Eco Brixs, 20 full-time staff on the books, up to 15 tons of plastic collected each month, and over $42,000 being injected into the local community.
Podcast host Catherine Weetman is a circular economy business advisor, workshop facilitator, speaker and writer. Her award-winning book, includes lots of practical examples and tips on getting started. Catherine founded Rethink Global in 2013, to help businesses use circular, sustainable approaches to build a better business (and a better world).
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