Help the planet, brick by brick
BEVERLEY – With Beverley Park in its development phase, a newly constructed eco-brick bench aims to get the community encouraged to recycle.
A new six-seater eco-brick bench is making its way to Beverley Park thanks to an environmental non-government organisation.
Live Life Always (LLA) had previously built an eco-brick bench in Lonehill. An eco-brick is a plastic bottle filled with non-recyclable and single-use plastic items such as food wrappers, chip packets and straws. These eco-bricks can then be used to build walls and other structures.
Founder of LLA, Sean Williams said the organisation received building materials from a homeware store in the Fourways area. They started the construction of the bench on 9 April.
LLA member, Edharage Mukaro, who has constructed a number of LLA dustbins in the Fourways community, began construction of the bench and dustbins in the area. “We were donated eco-bricks from the Fourways community, as well as all over Johannesburg. There have even been some bricks that were couriered from Cape Town. These bricks have been collected since lockdown, so almost a year,” he said.
Of the 1 000 bricks donated, 417 are used for the foundation with the remaining to be used for the seating and armrests. Each brick weighs almost 1kg each, totalling around
1 000kgs of single-use plastics used on the bench.
Williams said, at the moment, there is no big plan to make another bench from the eco-bricks, however, they will continue to keep making dustbins.
Ward 94 councillor, David Foley has been heavily involved in the development of Beverley Park and became involved with Williams’ initiative of preserving the environment and getting rid of plastic. “[Williams] said he had some spare bottles he wanted to use, and I wanted to get something going in Beverley Park since there is a bench in Lonehill. I had asked him to make some bins as well,” Foley said.
“The message is about recycling and protecting the planet, and that is something I am 100 per cent behind to ensure that people get the message. It is something that starts at home.”
Foley added that community responsibility needs to show in reporting sewage leaks of water leaks to conserve water and save the environment.
