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Andy Teale

Photoblog: 12 Images Summing Up What We Do

Updated: Jun 13, 2020

When people first discover Eco Brixs, or contact us here at our HQ in Uganda, naturally their first question is to understand what we do and what our mission is. Common questions include...



"So your focus is on recycling? Or is it job creation?"


"Are you in the construction industry?"


"What's a closed-loop system?"


"How do you give trash a value!?"



To answer questions like these, we thought we'd put together a short blog explaining what we do!


And they say 'a picture is worth a thousand words', so rather than explain what we do in a series paragraphs, we thought we'd show you through a series of images in our first photoblog...


 

The Plastic Problem in Uganda


In Uganda, 600 tonnes of plastic is deposed of every day. With no formal waste management system in place to collect the rubbish, trash is spotted everywhere you go.


Plastic Waste littering Queen Elizabeth National Park


A warthog looking through trash for something to eat in Queen Elizabeth National Park

Sadly, the only current option available to the majority of the population is to burn it or send it to landfill.


A cow in Masaka inhaling the fumes from plastic being burned

Over 90% of the waste ends up this way, which presents a huge risk to the people, wildlife and the environment as a whole...


Tonnes of plastic waste at a landfill site near Kampala

 

Tackling the Plastic (and Poverty) Problem: What We Do


In response to this issue, we've set up a network of Community Recycling Centres across Uganda where people can bring their plastic to be recycled...


A map of Eco Brixs network of community recycling centres across the Masaka District

Furthermore, to tackle the problem of high unemployment and poverty in Uganda, we pay the community for every kilogram of plastic brought to us...


The front wall of Eco Brixs HQ showing the community that we buy plastic waste and recycle it

To manage these centres, we focus on employing members of the disabled community...


One of Community Recycle Managers with the scales that weigh people plastic waste in exchange for cash

The plastic waste is then transported from our recycling centres to the main site in our network, Eco Brixs HQ. It's here the plastic is sorted and recycled...


A worker at Eco Brixs HQ sorting plastic waste so it can be recycled

...into our Eco-Products. These products can take the form of bricks or pavers, and are used for local construction projects.


Our Eco Brix pavers which are made by recycling plastic waste

By selling our Eco-Products, we generate revenue which can be used to purchase more plastic from the community to be recycled, and so the cycle continues.


Children in Uganda collecting plastic waste in order to earn some money

This is our closed-loop system in action. It means we can create items of value from waste which would have previously been discarded as worthless...


...and so, from mountains of plastic waste like these in Uganda, we can 'give trash a value'...


The massive pile of plastic waste which has been collected at Eco Brixs HQ

And we're looking to the future as well, through our Eco Clubs initiative. We're educating the next generation of change-makers on the importance of recycling!


Johnson Eco Brixs Operations Manager with a newly form Eco Club

 

Our Impact to Date



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