My house helps the planet
The present project deals with the manufacture of bricks and blocks of PET plastic (polyethylene terephthalate) from recovered disposable bottles. The bricks will be destined to the construction or improvement of houses, wet nuclei or for improvements (squares, neighborhood centers, nurseries, etc.) in low-income neighborhoods in order to ensure an attractive environment for family integration and self-production of food. The bricks are made with a mixture of PET plastic particles from disposable drinks containers, bound with Portland cement and additives, which is molded with a manual rolling machine. In addition to the environmental impact, from the technical point of view, the PET brick stands out for its lightness and thermal insulation. The idea is to set up two ecobrick production plants in Brinkmann and Porteña through joint work with both municipalities, Rotary International, INTA (National Institute of Agricultural Technology) and CONICET (National Council for Scientific and Technical Research). Additional green points will be established in Brinkmann and Porteña for the collection of PET bottles. Rotary International will carry out a campaign through various media, brochures and workshops in schools on environmental care and promotion of waste separation in order to increase the commitment of the population and thus achieve the expected recovery rates.
The CONICET will train and advise the technical team, for the development and operation of two plants in municipal facilities of Brinkmann and Porteña, suitable for this purpose. The collected bottles will be sent to the milling and brick making plants. There, the ground PET is mixed with cement and binder to be molded into a brick or block. Once hardened and dried it is stored for later distribution. The Secretaries of Social Development of both municipalities, will determine the list of beneficiaries and will agree on the form of access to the product (exchange for labor or bottles). Both plants have the basic and personal infrastructure to start the project. The project aims to respond to the housing need of 280 families of Brinkmann and Porteña and the need for extensions and improvements in wet centers. The eco bricks are lighter than clay bricks and have a greater insulating power, which allows to reduce the thickness of the walls by half, the foundations are shallower and the construction system is lighter. The municipality or families will arrange how they will transform the bricks into masonry. It is noteworthy that both municipalities participate in the regional landfill that brings together 11 localities and that charges a fee per kg of buried waste, which is why it is a priority for each municipality to reduce the volume of waste at source, and in the future it may be used for the plant to the grinding of other types of plastics.
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