MATERIAL MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION
Material management is a process for planning, executing and controlling field and office activities in
construction. The goal of materials management is to insure that construction materials are available at their
point of use when needed.
NEED FOR MATERIAL MANAGEMENT
• The amount spent on materials is higher than other inputs.
• Improving return on investment depends on the effective utilization of materials.
• Materials offer considerable scope for reducing cost and improving profit.
• Materials add value to product.
• Quality of end product depends on materials.
• Need for preservation of scarce resources for posterity.
• Increasing demand for ensuring environmental safety.
• Materials management assumes responsibility for whatever happens in purchasing, storing, inventory or
any other area connected with materials.
• The efficiency of any organization depends upon the availability of right materials, in right quantity, at
right time and at right price.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Circular Economy has received growing attention, both in the worlds of science and of policy making. Some
scholars and practitioners present it as a novelty
which builds on the legacy of predecessors, like
waste recycling and separation, industrial ecology,
eco-industrial parks and industrial symbiosis.
Various concepts go back to the 1980‘s, i.e. waste
hierarchies (3R‘s, 4R‘s etc.) and cascading. A
remarkable finding emerging from extensive
literature review from various disciplinary
backgrounds (including environmental sciences,
engineering, logistics, policy studies and more), is
that in the literature there is a messy cacophony
around the 3 or more R‘s as value retention
imperatives.
PRINCIPLE OF 3R AND MORE R‘S
Synthesizing the many contributions, a final 10R‘s hierarchy (starting with the R0, being ―refuse‖ from the
consumer perspective, and ending up with R9,
the re-mining from old land-fills), is developed.
The first four short loops (R0-3) includes Refuse,
Reduce, Resell/ Reuse; exist close to the
consumer and can be linked to commercial or
non- commercial actors engaged in extending the
life span of the product. The second group of
three medium-long loops (R4-6) includes
Refurbish, Re manufacture and Repurpose. The
third group of three long loops (R7-9), refer to
traditional waste management activities,
including Recycling, different forms of energy
Recovery and, more recently, Re-mining.
Materials or particles obtained through longer
loop recycling can serve as input for shorter loop R‘s.

STATUS OF CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Construction and demolition (C&D) waste has become central to the environmental discourse for multiple
reasons. Huge amounts of toxic dust particles from the debris pollute the air. The construction sector is
facing the additional challenge of material crisis. Along with the construction industry generating huge
amounts of material waste, its demand for primary material—minerals, stone, sand, iron ore, aluminum and
timber—is growing at an unprecedented rate. This has exacerbated deforestation for timber, scarred hills and
rivers for sand and minerals, and damaged floodplains. A significant proportion of construction waste can be
recycled and reused and brought back to construction to substitute a substantial part of naturally sourced
material. This demands a circular economy that makes C&D waste a resource to be ploughed back. A
circular economy can help address the cost of unsustainable extraction of virgin material and conservation
pressure of mining. Implementing a well thought-out strategy for reduction, reuse and recycling of C&D
waste in new construction can help reduce energy intensity and environmental footprint of the buildings and
infrastructure.
After a legal battle, using concrete made from recycled material and processed C&D waste is recognized as
an alternative to natural aggregates. This development has opened up an enormous opportunity. The
CDWMRR has further created the mandate for reuse of recycled material. A few factors on which the
industry depends on are:
 Slow progress
 Need stronger preparedness in states
 Swachh Survekshan sets a new benchmark
 Constraint of finding land for collection and recycling
 Challenge of collection and transport of C&D waste
 Concerns about finances and business case
 Low involvement of state government agencies/departments
 Lukewarm response from construction industry, low awareness
 Poor accountability framework
 Lack of confidence in recycled products
 Address pricing of recycled C&D waste products
 Role of informal sector
 Demolition management
 Poor monitoring and lack of resources
 Preparing for waste management from new generation material
 Addressing infrastructure waste
 PLASTIC BRICKS
INTRODUCTION:
A plastic brick (Ecobrick) is a plastic bottle packed with used plastic to a set density. They serve as reusable
building blocks. Ecobricks can be used to produce various items, including furniture, garden walls and other
structures.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
o Target region : Plastic Bottle Bricks can be used in any country with an excess amount of used
plastic bottles.
o Target Users: Any person, community or organization that wants to construct a structure out of
recycled materials.
o Distributors/ Implementing Organizations: No company distributes bottle bricks as they are intended
to be manufactured using local recycled materials. There are a few organizations that have their own
bottle
o projects in countries around the world.
o Market suggested retail price: ECO-TEC estimates 6-11 USD per square foot for construction,
excluding labor costs.
o Competitive landscape: Any standard earthen block or average brick has the same function as bottle
brick
o User Provision Model : A bottle brick can be created anywhere there are excess plastic bottles and
sand, plastic waste or any other non-organic material that can be stuffed and compressed inside the
bottle.
o Thermal Capacity : With sand filled in the bottle, the R value is 6.7
o Compressive Strength (MPa) : 0.162 N/mm2
o Suitable Climate : Tropical, Arid, Temperate, Continental

o Lifecycle : The lifetime of a bottle brick structure depends on the quality of the design and the
construction methods used.

o Safety : If the bottle bricks used in a structure are not dense enough, the structure will lose strength, and
the building will have a higher risk of failure. Also, the construction method that incorporates the bottle
bricks must ensure proper structural strength for the structure to remain standing.

o Complementary technical systems : A bottle brick requires an adhesive substance (sand, cement,
adobe, etc.) to hold the bricks together. Wooden beams, other bricks, and any other construction
materials/methods can incorporate bottle bricks, even if the bottle bricks are not the main structural
component.
 o Compliance with regulations: N/A. There are no existing standards for using bottle bricks in
construction.

INGREDIENTS
Typically, a plastic brick consists of a plastic bottle and inorganic landfill trash and sand.

MANUFACTURING PROCESS
Producers use a wood or bamboo stick to manually pack plastic into the plastic bottle. Any size of
transparent polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottle can be used to make an ecobrick.

STEP 1: Choose a bottle - 20 oz. plastic soda bottles are the best as they are readily available. Energy drink
bottles are the easiest to stuff as they have a wider diameter mouth. A good stuffing stick - a wooden dowel
with a tennis ball works great. But any hard wood or metal stick will do.

STEP 2 : Landfill - To ensure the soft, inorganic landfill trash is dry and clean.Little food scraps or moisture
are not a huge issue. If it‘s really dirty or soaked, wash it off and hang it to dry. Some examples of landfill
material for bottle bricks include plastic wrappers, plastic bags, receipts, cigarette butts, plastic mesh, and
floss.

STEP 3 : To add plastic landfill trash to the bottle and stuff as you go. It is very important to stuff as you go,
to ensure the trash is compressed and the bottle becomes a brick.

STEP 4: To screw the cap shut and seal it off.

STEP 5: Compression Test- If the bottle is compressing a little too much, get a strong stick (small metal
poles work great), compress it as much as physically possible, and then fill any extra space with sand. This is
a great way to finish bottle bricks that haven't been properly stuffed.

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

CASE STUDIES
1. Jane‘s Cob & Ecobrick Home, Besao.

Every day Jane Liwan goes through her small town of Besao and collects plastics from the local stores. She
carries the big sacks back to her house.At home she sits outside in her garden with a bamboo stick and a box of
plastic bottles. With a coffee at her side she methodically stuffs wrapper after wrapper, cellophane after
cellophane, plastic after plastic into plastic bottles. Little by little, she has taken down the old and grey
hollow-block walls of her house and replaced them with an array of Ecobricks and glowing, colour-water
filled glass bottle bricks.
Jane works as a utility worker at the Besao District Hospital. There she is responsible for dealing with the
plastic trash that the hospital generates on a daily bases — syringes, vials, tubes, diapers and much more.
Like in all towns and cities in the Cordilleras there are no proper recycling facilities for this type of plastic
waste. For a long time Jane would have to bring her waste into the forest or to a pit to burn or bury it.
Since March 2014, Jane has redone the whole back and front of her house with bottles. The Ecobricks make
benches and 4×4 glass bottles light up when the sun shines through them. The soothing and beautiful effect has
drawn visitors from all around the province.

2. Ometepet, Philippines
As in the northern Philippines, there really isn‘t much to do with the waste other than burn it or burry it.
Most people were doing just this. Or dumping it in Lake Nicaragua– though no one admitted to that– that is
one of the inevitable destinations. Alvaro has set up an amazing system through his hotel to transform the flow
of plastic that Ometepe‘s tourists create. Pollution here is an ironic consequence of well intentioned
ecotourists. Their visits demand a large supply of water bottles, chips wrappers, soap bottles, product
packaging, restaurant utensils, lightbulbs, batteries, etc. These items simply have no where to go but the very
into the very nature the tourists are here to enjoy. Alvaro however, has managed to aikido this dynamic straight
into the water bottles. Staff must present two ecobricks before they receive their monthly salary. Guides must
present four ecobricks before they can be hired by the hotel‘s guests on a well paid hike. Locals who want to
use the WiFi must bring an ecobrick to get the password. As the staff and guides can‘t always make their own
ecobricks, this has resulted in a micro-economy of community ecobrick production. Those in the community
with free time, have started making Ecobricks on the
side. The guides and staff buy the ecobricks for side
income– the price was 10 cordovas, but has recently
moved up to 15 cordovas as demand for ecobricks has
increased (about 0.4-0.6$ US). The result of several
years of this evolving dynamic is that the town of
Merida is the cleanest ever seen in Nicaragua so far.
And, best of all, Alavarro has been able to build a small
Ecobricks school and dozens of ecobrick tables for
other schools on the island! The school provides a
quality, innovative, bilingual education to the Merida children. The school is often assisted by the guests who
are staying at Hacienda Merida.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

Ecobricks have many advantages over conventional construction materials. They‘re zero cost, absorb abrupt
shock loads, are reusable, easy to work with, lightweight, and repurpose the plastic that‘s rapidly threatening
to take over our ecosystems. Ecobricking has allowed them to take personal responsibility for their plastic, to
keep it out of the failing systems and thus their local biosphere, and instead put the plastic to use locally. The
joy and pride from Ecobrickers who have made this transition is what propels the viral spread of Ecobricks
around the world. As the movement spreads, it quickly became clear that ecobricks were far more than
building blocks. Ecobricking, by design, does not require capital, and maximizes citizen participation.
Ecobricking is fundamentally manual-- it cannot be done by machines and requires an individual‘s work -- a
process of slow manual labour that challenges an individual to think twice about their plastic consumption. It
is here emerges the chief benefit of ecobricking: by enabling individuals to take personal responsibility for
their plastic consumption, the manual process of ecobricking compels a direct interaction with one‘s
consumed plastic. The meditative and communal aspect of ecobricking catalyzes the raising of ecological
consciousness Ecobrickers tend to pursue more information about waste disposal in their community, plastic,
recycling and ecobricking topics. This leads to a steady decrease in the ecobricker‘s net plastic consumption.
As ecobricking spreads, so too does individual and collective questioning of the mechanism of plastic
production and consumption. This continues to grow as awareness spreads of the dangers of plastic pollution
and the failure of industrial recycling. Ecobricks also create building blocks with a dual practical value. On
the one hand they are useful for building. On the other, they secure plastic indefinitely. As the GEA
encourages the use of ecobricks in earth constructions (gardens, parks, earthen walls) as a mean to complete
encase ecobricks from the main forms of potential degradation . Ecobricks, especially in earthen
construction, replicate nature‘s system of sequestration in which prehistoric carbon laden biomass was stored
under the earth, keeping the hydrocarbons out of the atmosphere, stabilizing climate and gifting future eras.
In the same way, ecobrick earthen construction enables us to indefinitely secure plastic and its hydrocarbons
from becoming toxins, microplastics or from reaching the atmosphere as C02. The GEA estimates that for
24 version .The Rise of the Regenerative Ecobrick Movement each 1 Kg of ecobricked plastic, 3.1Kg of
CO2 is sequestered. This service of securing plastic has become known as plastic sequestration . Keeping
plastic out of the biosphere is something we can all agree is a good thing-- yet a value not recognized in the
recycling industries pricing of plastic.

There are also downsides. Because ecobricks are plastic, like the plastic they‘re comprised of, they don‘t
decompose. If they melt, they release gases that are harmful to human health and the environment. Plastic is
made from oil, a fossil fuel.

REPLACEMENT OF CONVENTIONAL BRICKS

 The technique of using waste PET bottles as bricks has become popular in low income communities
around the world.
 Reusing the plastic bottles as the building materials can have substantial effects on saving the
building embodied energy by using them instead of bricks in walls and reducing the CO2emission in
manufacturing the clay Brick.
 PET Bottles also have a durability of more than 300 years which is more as compared to the standard
bricks and these bricks are very thick.
 It is Eco-friendly as we make use of the waste materials in the project and which does not cause any
harmful to the environment.
 90% increase in load carrying capacity of EcoBricks was observed compared to conventional bricks
whereas Composite Eco-Bricks and Eco-Brick Prism shows only 12 % increase in strength than the
conventional one.
  Therefore, it can be used in low rise building, temporary structures and for compound walls and
cannot be used for high rise buildings.
 From the test results it can be concluded that the strength of Eco-Brick is more when compared to the
conventional one.
 Thus we can conclude that using the concept of EcoBricks is cost effective, energy efficient and
commercially feasible.

APPLICATIONS
Ecobricks can be connected using tire bands, silicone, cob, and cement to build furniture, gardens, structures
and more. Ecobricks are being used in different ways around the world. Ideally, ecobrick constructions
use cradle to cradle design methods of combining the bottles—ensuring that the ecobricks can be extricated
without compromise to the bottle at the end of the construction's life span. It is useful to differentiate
between short-term ecobrick and long term ecobrick applications.

SHORT TERM APPLICATIONS

Ecobricks can be combined together using tire bands or inner-tube-bands as short-term, non-permanent
attachment methods to create applications that last months to several years. As short-term applications are
not usually covered, such constructions are typically for indoor use, in order to prevent UV photodegration
of the bottles. Short-term applications range from:
 Ecobrick Milstein Modules: Hexagon and triangle modules that are used for sitting, but can be
combined together to form one or two level horizontal surfaces. Applications include tables, beds,
stages, etc.
 Ecobrick Dieleman Modules: A geometric configuration of 16 ecobricks that enables a stackable
LEGO module. These modules can be stacked horizontally and vertically indefinitely. Applications
include indoor playgrounds, temporary stalls, sheds, and circular structure.
 Ecobrick Open Spaces: A combination of hundreds of Milstein and Dieleman lego modules that
enable the creation of interactive social spaces

LONG TERM APPLICATIONS

Ecobricks can be used with Earth building techniques (i.e. cob, wattle and daub, and adobe) to create
structures that can last years or decades (it is not uncommon for traditional earth constructions to last
centuries). In this way, earth mixes are used in between horizontally laid ecobricks as mortar. Ecobricks can
also BE used vertically and with traditional construction techniques in the Pura Vida Atlan style of
building. Both methods are careful to avoid the complete covering of ecobricks with cement which upon the
end of the construction results in the destruction of ecobricks upon extrication. Examples of long-term
ecobrick applications include:
  Raised gardens: Ecobricks are laid horizontal and completely covered
 Raised benches: Two or three levels of horizontally laid ecobricks to make seats and benches.
 Food Forest Play Parks: A combination of raised beds and benches to make a public green space,
ideally filled with edible plants.

HISTORY AND CHRONOLOGY

The global ecobrick movement has emerged as the result of a number of local initiatives in locations around
the world in response to the perceived challenges associated with the management of plastic waste. As
economic petroleum consumption and plastic production have increased, and as industrial waste
management methods have struggled to keep pace, ecobricking has emerged as a local, non-industrial
solution.

20th-century plastic development

Petroleum-derived energy has enabled the growth of the global economy over the last hundred years. The
widespread adoption of fossil fuels has enabled transportation and material technologies to develop.
However, in the refinement of crude oil, 4-13% cannot be processed into high value, high energy fuels. This
by-product is useful as a feedstock for the ultra-cheap production of plastic polymers. Since 1950 an
estimated 8,300 million metric tons (Mt) of virgin plastics have been produced worldwide; 9% of which had
been recycled, 12% were incinerated and 79% have accumulated in landfills or the natural environment.

Petroleum projections

According to the American Chemistry Council, since 2010, $186bn is being invested in 318 new projects to
fuel a 40% increase in plastic production over the next decade. If current production and waste management
trends continue, roughly 12,000 Mt of plastic waste will be in landfills or in the natural environment by
2050. In addition, by 2030, CO2 emissions from the production, processing and disposal of plastic could
reach 1.34 gigatons per year—equivalent to the emissions released by more than 295 new 500-megawatt
coal-fired power plants.

Plastic pollution and contamination

A tremendous amount of plastic waste litters our planet every year, and its cost is huge. According to
the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) 2014 Yearbook, plastic contamination threatens
marine life, tourism, fisheries and businesses and the overall natural capital cost for plastic waste is $75
billion each year. Increasing scientific documentation is demonstrating many dangers arising from plastic
degradation. When plastic enters the biosphere it releases toxins, fragments into microplastics and
emits greenhouse gases that interfere with ecological cycles. When plastic is burned or incinerated, toxic
gases like dioxins, furans, and polychlorinated biphenyls are released into the atmosphere. Photo-oxidative
degradation caused by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation and physical abrasion fragments plastic debris
into smaller and smaller particles, known as microplastics. The degradation process corresponds directly to
the amount of surface area of the plastic that is exposed as well as the length of time of exposure to UV rays.
The majority of single use plastics are sheets and films with large surface areas and are highly susceptible
to photodegradation. The photodegradation process also emits greenhouse gases, methane and ethylene.

Microplastics can have possible direct ecotoxicological impacts, accumulate in food chains and cause
economic damage because of food safety concerns. Burned and incinerated plastics have been shown to
release dioxins and other chemicals that are harmful to human health.

Rural community impact

In countries and communities without access to industrial recycling or incineration, plastic has
accumulated in streets, ditches, and beaches. Without large scale options for managing plastic households
and communities have been powerless to manage their own plastic, other than dangerous and intoxicating
low-temperature incineration, water, and land loose dumping.

Failure of industrial recycling

Between, 1950 and 2017 an estimated 8,300 million metric tons (Mt) of virgin plastics have been produced
worldwide; only 9% were recycled, the rest have been dumped or burned. As of the early 2000s most
industrial recycling was occurring in China where the majority of G7 countries were exporting their waste
plastic. The processing of this plastic, in particular the dumping and incineration of unrecyclables, caused
significant pollution in China. As of January 1, 2018, China banned plastic imports in its National Sword
program. Since then, globally, more plastics are now ending up in landfills, incinerators, or likely littering
the environment as rising costs to haul away recyclable materials increasingly render the practice
unprofitable. The displaced plastic exports from Europe and America has been largely diverted to Indonesia,
Turkey, India, Malaysia, and Vietnam where lacking environmental regulations have resulted in wholesale
air, water and earth pollution around processing plants. Critics observe that industrial recycling relies on the
energy intensive export of plastic to other locations, that industrial recycling isn't circular (processes turn a
high grade plastic into a lower, less-recyclable form), and that recycling enables the unquestioned
continuation of plastic consumption
The ecobricking of plastic

The ecobricking movement has emerged from a growing awareness of the scale of plastic pollution, the
problems it causes and the inability of industrial means to adequately manage plastic waste The ecobricking
movement promotes techniques, methodologies and applications as a means for households, communities
and cities to take responsibility for their plastic, secure and transform it. Ecobricks serve to sequester plastic,
to put the plastic to use locally as building block, and as an alternative medium of community exchange

Terminal minimization of net surface area

By packing plastic into a bottle, flat high-surface area wrappers and films are compressed together. This
terminal minimization of net surface area means that the plastic is secured from the principal forms of
potential degradation: heat, burning, friction and photodegradation. In addition, by ensuring that only clean
and dry plastic is packed and permanently sealing the bottle, potential microbial degradation is also
prevented.

Sequestration of plastic

When ecobricks are properly made and properly applied in cradle to cradle design constructions they result
in the effective plastic sequestration, of plastic out of the biosphere. In other words, ecobricks serve as a way
to trap and secure plastic from entering the environment, degrading and causing ecological harm. In
short-term ecobrick applications, such as milstein or Dieleman Modules ecobricks can be used for up to
three years without any damage to the bottle. By using silicone sealant or inner-tube-band as short-term,
non-permanent attachment methods, the ecobricks can be extricated undamaged at the construction's end and
used again in another short or long-term applications. In particular, the long-term earth and ecobrick building
method, results in gardens, parks, and earthen walls that ensure that the ecobricked plastic is fully secured.
Earthen mortar will easily crumble when the structure is disassembled ensuring that the ecobricks can be
extricated and reused. Earthen mortar also completely covers the ecobrick negating any possibility of heat,
friction, fire or microbial degradation. Ecobrick sequestration thus prevents the breakdown of the contained
plastic into microplastics and into green house gases through photodegradation. Ecobrick sequestration also
prevents the incineration of the plastic and the release of gases and CO2 It is estimated that for each 1 kg of
ecobricked plastic, 3.1 kg of CO2 is sequestered.

The raising of ecological consciousness

In contrast to industrial plastic management technologies, ecobriking directly involves the consumers of
plastic in its process. The process of saving, segregating, washing, drying and packing plastic results in
consumer/ecobricker reflection The meditative and communal tendencies of ecobricking raise individual and
collective 'ecological consciousness' over time. Ecobrickers tend to pursue more information about waste
disposal in their community, plastic, recycling and ecobricking topics. This leads to a steady decrease in the
ecobricker's net plastic consumption.

GLOBAL IMPACT

As the early ecobrick technique began to spread in the Cordilleras, Russell and Irene deemed it important to
develop guidelines to point those keen to participate in the right direction. In order to rejoin other
movements around the world packing plastic into bottles, they adopted the term ‗ecobrick‘ and initiated the
development of the Vision Ecobrick Guide. Their work and the early direction of ecobrick was inspired by
Pi Villaraza who was residing in the village of Sabangan at the time. As president of the Asian Chapter of
the Global Ecovillage Network (GENOA) and the principal of the Inner Dance movement that was sweeping
South East Asia at the time, Pi had a dual influence on the budding ecobrick movement. Inner Dance‘s
emphasis on individual spirituality and personal healing, inspired the Asian ecobrick movement‘s emphasis
on personal plastic responsibility. As the founder of the MAIA Earth Village in Palawan, Philippines, Pi
connected the growing ecobrick movement with earth builders and permaculture principles. This helped
direct ecobricking away from the cement and structure focused construction applications of the American
based Earth Ship movement. Instead, the 14 version 0.9 The Rise of the Regenerative Ecobrick Movement
Asian Ecobrick movement moved towards non-structural community constructions (such as gardens and
play parks) that embodied permaculture food forest gardening and use of earth building techniques. As the
ecobrick and inner dance movement intertwined Russell and Pi, resonated on maximizing the word of mouth,
collaboration powered, spread of ecobricking. Since, 2005 Russell, through his fine art practice, had been
developing a theory of collaborative mandalic manifestation41 . As in the making of a collaborative mandala,
Russell and Pi, consciously introduce the initial ecobricking techniques in such as way that anyone could
ecobrick. The initial ecobrick method comprised simple, replicable tasks and an open invitation to
participate. Powered by these insights, more and more schools, towns and churches in the Cordilleras began
to turn to ecobricking as a solution for their plastic. The incubating Igorot culture thus came to have a
significant influence on all aspects of the movement. Irene Bakisan, director of the DepEd Indigenuous
Studies program, was the first to draw a connection between the Igorot virtue of Ayyew and ecobricking.
Representing the concept of ever increasing, ever enriching, cycling the Ayyew virtue represents a concept
distinctly lacking in the Western concepts of waste management. In many ways, it is in fact the opposite
dynamic of the downward spiral of industrial recycling. Instead, Irene envisioned ecobricks embodying the
principle of indefinite repurposing, with ever increasing ecological value. As various branches of the
Filipino ecobrick movement experimented with using cement in constructions, the Igorot influence helped
steer the movement towards cradle-to-cradle, circular design principles. In other words, rather than putting
ecobricks to use in ways that terminated the usage of the ecobrick (i.e. in one-time cement builds), the
movement began developing applications that ensured that at the end of the construction, the ecobrick could
be wholely extricated and put to use again. This direction lead to the development of Earth and Ecobrick
building techniques as well as Ecobrick modules. With the Ayyew ethic behind it, ecobricking was in a
unique position to do something to plastic that was impossible within the Industrial paradigm. By leveraging
the previously problematic properties of plastic (i.e. longevity, resiliency) ecobricking not only enabled the
making of effective building blocks, 15 version 0.9 The Rise of the Regenerative Ecobrick Movement but
enabled the securing of plastic from the biosphere. By packing a PET bottle packed solid, the net surface
area of the plastic is reduced a thousandfold. This terminal minimization of net surface area means that the
plastic is effectively and indefinitely kept safe from degrading into microplastics, toxins and greenhouse
gases. By applying cradle-to-cradle building techniques, ecobricks could leverage the resilience of plastic
and be reused over and over.42 Most importantly though, ecobricks emobdied these principles, enabling
those who worked with them a hands on introductory experience to regenerative principles. The Spread in
the Northern Philippines In 2012 the Department of Education, based in Bontoc, introduced ecobricking to
263 of its schools in the region. As the movement spread it became clear that it was essential to further
develop the Vision Ecobrick Guidebook to emphasize standardized principles and techniques for
ecobricking. To do so they connected with other ecobrick leaders in South Africa, Central America and
America to collaboratively develop version 2.0 of the guide, establish the Global Ecobrick Alliance and
settle on the word ‗ecobrick‘ to be used in the global movement. The Vision Ecobrick Guide was endorsed
by the Alberto Muyato, the Undersecretary of Education Department of Education representing the
Cordillera Administrative Region in 2012 and introduced to over 2000 of schools in 201343 . The Spread in
Indonesia In 2015 Russell Maier, moved to Bali Indonesia to test the relevance of Filipino Ecobrick insights
in Indonesia. Russell‘s methodology of mandalic collaboration had been refined. He applied the newly
developed principles of replicability, non-capital, and non-petroleum to the socialization of ecobricking in
Indonesia. In particular, Russell introduced the new ecobrick module technique. Milstein modules had been
developed near the end of Russell‘s time in the Philippines, and presented a simpler means of building with
ecobricks rather earth building. Little capital was required and non-petroleum materials were used to
enhance the replicability of the method. Module making enhanced the usability and practicality of ecobricks.
Instead of requiring hundreds of ecobricks, land and labour anyone could put together a dozen ecobricks and
make a stool. Those 16 version 0.9 The Rise of the Regenerative Ecobrick Movement stools could be
combined into tables. Tables could combined into beds, stages and more. In line with mandalic collaboration
principles, the ease of module making enabled anyone sharing the intention of solving plastic, to make their
own module and participate in a wider, shared cocreative process. In 2015 the Vision Ecobrick Guide was
translated by Nurkinanti Laraskusuma into Indonesian. In 2016, Russell Maier and Ani Himawati officially
founded the GEA as a not-for profit Earth Enterprise with the mission of supporting the technological and
philosophical infrastructure of the global ecobrick movement. In 2016 the ecobrick movement ignited in
Yogyakarta Indonesia44, with the introduction of an ecobrick trainer to trainer program design by Ani
Himawati. With a network of two dozens trainers Ecobricks began to quickly began to spread throughout the
city. Ani Himawati was instrumental in the development of the GEA training methodoly-- through the GEA
over a dozen training of trainers have been deployed throughout the country, leading to the development of a
network of 200 Indonesian trainers. Using this methodology, the Indonesian movement has continued to
spread exponentially throughout the country45 through starter workshops, training of trainers, online trainer
of trainers, and ecobrick convergences. Ecobrick workshops now occur on a daily basis throughout
Indonesia. The mandalic process is fully realized now in Ecobrick Open Spaces and Convergences-- where
dozens of collaborators bring their modules together to make an interactive community learning space. The
Spread to the UK The unique character of the Asian ecobrick movement, with its focus on personal
responsibility, has spread most recently to the UK. The ecobrick movement in the UK was ignited shortly
after the airing of Blue Planet II in December 2017 and the Chinese ban of plastic imports on January 1st
2018. In January 2018 Mary Bacoo and Lucie Mann from the UK joined the GEA as trainers. Lucie started
the Ecobricks UK Facebook page which took off in October 2018 as concurrent scandals around the UK
recycling industry broke on the news and sent ecobricks viral. As awareness spread in the UK of the
problems with plastic, the failure of recycling, and the export of UK plastics to South East Asia, hundreds of
thousands have begun to search for plastic lifestyle alternatives. The first local GEA 17 version 0.9 The Rise
of the Regenerative Ecobrick Movement Trainer of Trainers was organized by Lucie in July 2019. As of
2020, there are now over 30 GEA Trainers in the UK, and we estimate that over 500 thousand have
attempted ecobricking while 75% of the population have now heard of the technique.
 MATERIAL
MANAGEMENT

PRIYANKA SARDESAI

A17118 5D

[email protected]