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Building a sustainable construction industry

Source:International Plastics News for Release Date:2021-08-25 5334
ChemicalPlastics & RubberOthersCompoundingRaw Materials & CompoundsMaterials Handling, Measuring & TestingPlastics Machinery
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Rommel Benig, CEO and President, Green Antz Builders, Inc., talked about his vision that helped build a sustainable future for the Philippines construction industry.

Building materials produced with recycled plastic content are increasingly becoming recognised as a viable solution to the plastic waste problem that many innovations in this area are now being applied in the construction and infrastructure sector. Green Antz Builders, Inc., a visionary company in the Philippines, has developed a sustainable solution for the building and housing industry through environment-friendly production processes that turn out “green” building products and services.

 

International Plastics News for Asia was able to talk to Rommel Benig, CEO and President of Green Antz Builders on the concept and vision that helped build a sustainable future for the construction industry. 

 

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Rommel Benig, CEO and President of Green Antz Builders 


How did you come up with the concept of high quality construction materials from recycled plastics?


Mr. Benig: It all started with the vision to do something about the waste products we have in the Philippines. I used to work for a fast-moving consumer goods manufacturing company and during the course of my work, I had to go outside. I saw how the plastic waste problem has been affecting our environment and wished that we can do something to address this problem, particular sachets. The Philippines is known as a ‘sachet economy’ because over 160 million pieces of sachets are used and thrown out every day. 

 

With that aspiration, I left the corporate world in 2012 and started to set up a social enterprise called Green Antz with a mission to create sustainable, environmentally responsible and climate resilient communities. My previous employer, Nestlé, supported me when I discussed with them a project that can pose as possible solutions to the discarded sachets. I started working on this project in 2013. It was an uphill climb to start a business like this, but I wanted to cultivate it as a social enterprise that will not only generate profits, but also be able to ease social problems.

 

What made you decide to produce environment-friendly bricks? What are the important features of these products that make them unique and superior? 

 

Mr. Benig: Initially when I left the corporate world, I thought of developing products that can address the waste problem and at the same time help alleviate poverty as well as address the housing problem in our country. Initially, I thought of producing tiles or plastic boards but the investment requirement is high for these products so I conducted a research and sought other options – a product that can be benchmarked and produced here based on technology from other countries. I came across a brick made of compressed earth block that is popular in South America, and developed a concrete brick with recycled plastic, especially sachets. In doing so, we are able to help reduce plastic waste and release a product that has excellent performance and with potentially high demand. This recommendation to produce Eco-Bricks was approved by Nestlé, which also supported us in setting up the machines and the initial production process. We developed the product from 2013 to 2014, then in 2016 we launched it to the market.

 

The Eco-Bricks is our flagship product and is made up of around 18-25% (by volume) or less than 5% by weight recycled plastic from sachets. Depending on the requirements and volumes ordered by our customers, we can produce bricks up to 30% (by volume) recycled plastic content. The bricks are for pavements, building and housing construction. Because of the integration of recycled plastics into the bricks, improved thermal insulation is guaranteed. Our products also enable considerable cost-savings of as much as 20% as there is no need for plastering, so less need for concrete mix, shorter curing time and less manpower required. The bricks we offer can be coloured and used as decorative wall or cladding.  The Eco-Bricks also have superior quality with comprehensive strength from 670 to 870 psi, so these are stronger than concrete hollow blocks. For every brick, plastic infusion is 100g sachets (45g) or three 300-ml plastic bottles.

 

Aside from Eco-Bricks, we also offer other construction materials made with recycled plastic content – we have the Eco-Cast and Eco-Paver. The Eco-Paver, with strength of 600 psi, is applied in the construction of sidewalks, pathways, and floors. The Eco-Cast is for outer building wall, inner structure wall and perimeter wall construction.


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What is the strategy of Green Antz to ensure that there is sufficient raw materials and production output for your customers?

 

Mr. Benig:  We created a model where we integrated the Green Antz concept to the CSR initiatives of our partners, so we develop a model that we call “social franchising.”  In partnership with local government units, schools, non-governmental organisations and other corporate entities, we have a plastic waste collection system where we train our partners to segregate at source. In effect, we are also changing the mindset as we train them to sort out the plastic waste and bring to us only clean and dry plastics, and we do compensate our partners.  

 

To collect the plastic waste, we have several drop-off points that are mostly located at the big shopping malls and other designated areas where people can drop off their clean plastics. The scalable community-based concept that we call Eco Hub also serves as a collaborative platform where the plastic waste from the drop-off points are brought for sorting, recycling and then manufactured into green building materials.  We have a modern material recovery facility (MRF) and all our machines are built in-house. To date, we operate around 30 Eco Hubs across the Philippines and we hope to expand and add more locations. We also have an R&D centre in one of the provinces where we conduct research and testing. The Plastic Station, which we introduced this year, is like a modern junk shop with more advanced sorting, washing and recycling process. 

 

The construction materials from Green Antz are now being used by well-known local and international companies. What are some recent achievements as far as your customers are concerned?

 

Mr. Benig: To date, we have worked with many leading companies. We started with B2B target market with the intent to collaborate with corporate partners in their sustainability initiatives. Some of the companies that we’ve worked with and obtained their construction materials from us for their construction projects are Nestlé, Shell, Ayala Corporation, Colgate-Palmolive, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s to name a few.

 

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For Shell, we supplied Eco-Bricks for its retail station which serves as a milestone station to help reduce its carbon footprint and support its circular economy goal; and also set a precedent for smarter and cost-efficient station design. The environment-friendly gasoline station was constructed using 26,512 Eco-Bricks that we supplied and upcycled 1,200 kilograms of plastic waste, which is equivalent to 80,000 lubricant bottles.  We also work with Shell through its social development arm, Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc. (PSFI) for the Eco Hub to help manage waste in Macajalar Bay, Cagayan de Oro, and provide livelihood in the area. 

 

Another project is the handwashing station built with Eco-Bricks made from 18,000 discarded plastic sachets that we constructed for Colgate-Palmolive Philippines, Inc. which was turned over to a public market in the province of Bulacan.  The plastic waste for this project was collected from over 60 schools in the province. The handwashing stations are most appropriate at this time to help inculcate proper hygiene and cleanliness within the community and is also the start of Colgate-Palmolive’s efforts to address plastic waste.   

 


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