About Us
Our Model | Our Story | Our Team
Our Mission
"To create green, environmentally friendly, sustainable solutions to lift people out of abject poverty in Uganda."
Our Model
Eco Brixs is a closed-loop recycling model to help tackle the issue of plastic waste and unemployment in Uganda
Waste Management
The community bring their plastic waste to one of our 20+ Recycling Centre based around Uganda
We sell the Eco-Products to generate revenue, which in turn provides funds to continue to purchase plastic from the community.
Sustainability
Creating Community Income Opportunities
We weigh the plastic by the kilogram and then pay the collector according to the weight, helping them to earn an income
Recycling
We recycle the plastic waste into a variety of new items, known as Eco-Products. These include bricks, pavers, fence posts, face shields, hats and more!
Our Story
From one back garden to making a massive environmental and economical impact...
With no formal waste management system in Uganda, plastic can be seen everywhere. Discarded on roadsides, littered throughout markets and burning on rubbish heaps, plastic waste is creating a devastating impact on both Uganda’s environment and the human population. It was seeing this detrimental impact of plastic waste that led us to find a solution to Uganda’s plastic problem.
Eco Brixs started out in 2017. Frustrated with the lack of waste management systems in Masaka, we started collecting plastic in our back garden, and after collecting 2 tonnes alone, decided to start a simple plastic collection facility called ‘Masaka Recycling Initiative’.
It soon became clear that the size and scale of the problem was far greater than what anyone had envisaged - 90% of plastic in Uganda goes to landfill or is illegally burnt, and whatever small percentage of plastic waste is recycled is typically shipped abroad rather than used in a way to support the local economy.
With more plastic than we could manage, we began to look into more effective ways to recycle plastic which would help support the local communities and economy. After 6 months of research and knocking on countless doors, we developed an innovative plastic-sand composite paver which has been proven to be stronger, lighter and more durable than concrete. This, combined with the concept of creating employment opportunities amongst the community through our collection network, has allowed us to create a closed-loop system that provides a sustainable answer to the problem of plastic waste in Uganda.
Now, three years on, Eco Brixs has grown to become one of the largest recycling facilities outside the capital city of Kampala - recycling over 350 tonnes of plastic waste and creating 3000 income opportunities amongst local people. Using this plastic, we’ve developed a wide range of Eco-Products that have been utilised by both the construction and healthcare sectors.
We’ve built local partnerships with Masaka Diocese and the Buganda Kingdom, and internationally with charities such as Tearfund and the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust, as well as technology developers TMC. Our programmes have expanded too - we specialise in disability employment and providing youth education initiatives.
As we enter the next chapter of our development, we can’t wait to see what the future holds, as we use our model to help the environment and people of Uganda!
The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals
Our work is based on 4 of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals...
We focus on employing
disabled community
members and 50% of our
workforce comes from the
disability union.
We provide a way for the
whole town to benefit from
an aesthetically pleasing
environment, as well as a
new market in buying and
selling plastic waste.
We encourage (and reward)
individuals and businesses to
be more accountable for the
waste they create through
their buying or business
habits.
We offer a sustainable
solution to recycling plastic
(a non-perishable good)
removing hundreds of tonnes of
this toxic material from the
natural environment.
Our Team
Eco Brixs is led by a skilled management team with extensive networks at corporate and government levels in Uganda. They are overseen by a UK and Ugandan board of trustees.