Put an eco-brick in the wall
The Yellowwood Park community have joined the eco-brick initiative.
In a bid to play their part towards conserving the environment, members of Yellowwood Park Women’s Institute (YWP WI) are pro-actively joining the movement of making and collecting eco-bricks. Eco-bricks are thermally insulating bricks that are made by compressing unrecyclable plastic into two-litre plastic bottles, and the YWP WI members have taken the initiative to make these bricks.
Using un-recyclable plastic such as bread packets, the flimsy plastic that shops often use to pack fruit and vegetables, plastic which covers meat and so on, the women pack and compress the material inside two-litre cold drink bottles.
Heading up the project is YWP WI’s Sheila Philogene.
READ: YWP WI learns about eco bricks
“These plastic materials are not recycled and end up blowing around in the dump, getting into our rivers and then the sea, harming marine life. The eco-brick initiative came about as a way to address this issue and we want to get the community of Yellowwood Park involved. The SPCA in Amanzimtoti is building kennels using these bricks and there are a few schools that use them to build retaining walls in their gardens.”
Anyone can create an eco-brick by filling cold drink bottles with all their non-recyclable plastics using a long-handled stick to push the plastic down into the bottle, ensuring it is as tight as possible.
READ: Promote nature’s way of recycling
“It is amazing how much plastic we have in the home, and it is amazing how much plastic is takes to make one brick. It needs to be filled with plastic to get it firm and solid,” added Philogene. The ultimate test to see whether the eco-brick is finished, is to stand on it. If it gives at all, the plastic material needs to be compressed further and more plastic added.
For more details on how to join in this initiative, call Sheila Philogene on 031-462-7904.
Click on the words highlighted in red to read more on this and related topics.
To receive news links via WhatsApp, send an invite to 061-876-3179
The Southlands Sun is also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest – why not join us there?
Do you have more information pertaining to this story?
Feel free to let us know by commenting on our Facebook page or you can contact our newsroom on 031-903-2341 and speak to a journalist.
(Comments posted on this issue may be used for publication in the Sun)
