Production of building materials out of rejected solid waste, India (2006 -)

Research data

Start of research: 2005

End of research: never ending

The research

Out of 700 plans the jury has selected 40 plans, including our proposal, and we were allowed to proceed to the second and final round. In the following 6 weeks we have written an extensive business plan, about the processing of illegally dumped building debris in the city of Mumbai. We developed a multi-purpose building element which we have named 'Brick Bag'. We crumble the stone parts and put them in sturdy bags, which can be marketed on several building related markets. It can compete with existing material prizes and therefore is affordable for the lowest income group. The jury has nominated our plan as being a winning entry, and in the end we made it to the top 5. Unfortunately we did not win a money prize, but we gained a lot of attention and support. And more important, we now have a decent proposal, which serves as a solid base for our future developments!

X

Brick Bag in Sri Lanka (2006)

In the village of Kurukkalmadam at the East Coast we have started a first series of tests, to construct a toilet out of Brick Bags. Huge quantities of broken bricks are still lying around on the beaches, after the disastrous tsunami in 2004. We used this raw material as filling for the bags.

X

We have started to crumble the bricks by hand, which is a normal way of processing in this area. We have put the broken parts of brick and roofing tiles in rice bags, which we have closed with needle and thread. Then we simply stack the bags into a structure.

X

The bags cost a few cents per piece. Manually processing of the material turned out to be too expensive. To speed up the process and to reduce these costs, we will develop a simple, manually operated stone crusher. This will also improve the working circumstances for the laborers.

X

Unfortunately we had to quit our work here, as a result of the growing risks of the civil war.

Juicy Solids (2006)

Our second research program is an even bigger challenge! Here we focus on those plastics, which are abundantly available in the waste streams, but which currently have no value. These plastics can be found in large quantities on the waste dumps, but also on the streets or thrown in the environment. Waste materials that already have a purpose or value, such as PET bottles, are outside our scope of interest. We will not interfere in the existing income opportunities of the people.

X

De zakken kosten ongeveer 5 cent per stuk. Het handmatig breken daarentegen is een te hoge kostenfactor. We willen een simpele handmatige stenenbreker ontwikkelen, om het tempo te verhogen en om de arbeidsomstandigheden te verbeteren.

X

We zijn helaas niet verder gekomen dan het maken van wat proefzakken. Wegens de steeds verder groeiende oorlogsdreiging op Sri Lanka is dit project stopgezet.

Juicy Solids (2006)

Het tweede onderzoeksprogramma is een nog grotere uitdaging! Het materiaal waar we ons in dit geval op richten zijn de plasticsoorten, die in grote getale in de afvalstroom aanwezig zijn, maar waar momenteel geen bestemming voor is. Plastics zijn in grote hoeveelheden te vinden op afvalbergen, of je vind het terug als zwerfvuil op straat en in de natuur. Materialen die waarde hebben en daarom al gerecycled worden, zoals PET flessen, vallen buiten onze interesse. We willen voorkomen dat we aan ons mengen in de broodwinning van anderen.

X

Milk and juice cartons are known as multi-layered plastics, containing paper, aluminium foil and waterproof layers, which make them difficult and expensive to recycle. There are few markets that are interested in these materials and that is the main reason why we aim for those materials in particular!

X

Some hard plastics can be shredded and then be used as a raw material for new products. We will look after the possibilities to produce roofing materials out of these plastics.

X

In all cases we will try to develop simple and small scale machines to produce the building materials. For instance we will develop a manually operated plastic shredder and a simple heat press. All our machines must be easy to operate, without much maintainance, and they should operate without electricity or expensive fuels.

X

All in all this is a huge challenge!