THE USE OF ECO-BRICKS AS AN ALTERNATIVE BUILDING BLOCK

FOR PHILIPPINE BUDGET HOUSES

Rose Angelica F. Quiday

rsqdy28@gmail.com
GED0101 – First Semester
December 5, 2019
 The Use of Eco-Bricks as an Alternative Building Block
for Philippine Budget Houses GED0101

Title:

The Use of Eco-Bricks as an Alternative Building Block for Philippine Budget Houses

Rose Angelica F. Quiday

December 5, 2019

_____________________________________________________________________________

Topic:

Eco-Bricks is the common name given to polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles filled

with heavily compressed inorganic, dry, and non-biodegradable waste. With the growing problem

of unaffordable housing in the Philippines along with the persistent global crisis that is plastic

pollution, this paper introduces Eco-Bricks that are economical, eco-friendly, and accessible as a

potential alternative construction material for Philippine budget houses. To do this, this paper will

discuss the properties that constitutes to the feasibility of Eco-Bricks as a substitute or supplement

for common construction blocks such as hollow blocks. Overall, the discussions within this study

will benefit a lot of sectors of the society. Particularly, this paper would greatly benefit the

government, urban planners, environmental advocates, and the less fortunate sectors of the

Philippine society.

The Use of Eco-Bricks as an Alternative Building Block

for Philippine Budget Houses GED0101
 The Use of Eco-Bricks as an Alternative Building Block
for Philippine Budget Houses GED0101

Purpose/Introduction:

The mitigation of poverty here in the Philippines continues to be the main concern of the

Philippine government. It is one of the (if not the greatest) major issues that the country has been

facing over the years. Its inability to be repressed brought about a long procession of massive and

pervasive problems such as low economic growth, a weak agricultural sector, increased population

rates and a high volume of inequality (Asian Development Bank, 2009). Because of these issues,

poverty gave birth to a lot of consequences that continually makes it difficult for a lot of Filipino

citizens to live in such conditions—one of which is the persisting problem to afford housing.

In the East Asia Pacific (EAP) report titled “Expanding Opportunities for the Urban Poor”,

the Philippines has the third-largest slum population in the region, along with China and Indonesia.

Everywhere across the Philippines—especially in its capital Metro Manila—there is an

incontestable array of stilt houses and makeshift dwellings that can be seen in cemeteries, along

railways, and under unnoticeable bridges (Ordinario, 2010). According to the latest report the

World Bank issued, the Filipinos that live within here are among the country’s 17 million urban

slum dwellers, and these citizens are blatantly exposed to dangers such as extreme weather

conditions, natural disasters, lack of sanitation, infectious diseases, and many more.

That is why, up to now, solving the predicament of providing housing continues to be a

subject of many discussions among the government, experts, industry stakeholders, and the non-

government organizations. So, as a huge portion of the country’s population remains to live in

slum areas, the government remains to look for effective resolutions to combat the scarcity

in housing. However, problems regarding time and money arise due to lack of research on

sustainable housing plans—leading to those that are expensive, unsustainable, and therefore
The Use of Eco-Bricks as an Alternative Building Block
for Philippine Budget Houses GED0101
 The Use of Eco-Bricks as an Alternative Building Block
for Philippine Budget Houses GED0101

unattainable. With this, it is rightful to deeply explore and examine one of the sustainable

practices that is tailored for low-cost housings, and one of the numerous waste reduction

strategies that is gaining attention in the emergent time—the Eco-Bricks.

Attempts on Resolving the Housing Crisis in the Philippines

Among the several housing projects dedicated to the informal settlers in the Philippines,

probably one of the most notable was the program led by the Aquino administration. In 2011, two

flagship projects were approved and launched: one of which was for the illegal settlers dwelling

in the perilous areas of Metro Manila. This relocation project was administered in lieu of clearing

waterways and esteros that the informal settlers are occupying to prepare for the rainy season.

A P50 billion budget was fixed for this project with the goal to relocate and provide homes

to around 104,000 illegal settling families, of which 60,000 were living in waterways or esteros.

The program aimed to relocate 20,000 families yearly (Medina & Generalao, 2017). However, this

project became time-consuming for the rate of population growth here in the Philippines. Thus,

the problem in housing continues to persist (Remo, 2017).

The Plaguing Solid Waste Predicament

With the continuous increase (in a faster pace more than ever) of global solid waste at

present, urban expansion professionals alert everyone that the growth will hit the highest point this

century. With this, the rates will not commence decreasing until everyone realizes the magnitude

it brings, and until transformational modifications will be made regarding how we use and reuse

The Use of Eco-Bricks as an Alternative Building Block

for Philippine Budget Houses GED0101
 The Use of Eco-Bricks as an Alternative Building Block
for Philippine Budget Houses GED0101

materials (Muyen, Barna, and Hoque, 2016). Daniel Hoornweg and Perinaz Bhada-Tata, two of

the Word Bank’s notable urban development professionals, reported in 2012 that the globally

accumulated solid waste is approximately 1.3 billion tonnes annually. They predicted through

statistics that this number would continue to rise in 2025 to around 2.2 billion tonnes per annum

(Muyen et al., 2016).

According to a report regarding plastic pollution by the Ocean Conservancy

and McKinset Centre for Business and Environment, just in the Philippines, 2.7 million tonnes of

plastic waste are generated annually and 20 percent (which is half a million tonnes) freely seeps

into our oceans (Vila, 2018). One of the “sachet economies,” the Philippines and its citizens

altogether consume more than 163 million sachet packets, 45 million labo bags, and 48 million

sando bags in just a day (Alegado, 2019). These statistics alone puts the country at the third rank

when it comes to cradling discarded plastic, along with China and Indonesia respectively (Vila,

2018). It also does not help that the Philippines has no concrete garbage collecting system, leaving

its people with the predicament of where to store their waste. Hence, the urge to just leave them

anywhere convenient. One good example is Manila’s slum areas, where garbage trucks are either

inaccessible or unreliable. Hereafter, plastic waste such as sachets are hurled carelessly in creeks

or thrown on the streets, ending up to drainage and waterway blockages.

Attempts on Mitigating the Plastic Problem

As a response to the lack of national policies on the production of plastics and to the

enduring problem of plastic pollution, many local government units have delivered local decrees

to regulate the consumption of plastic that includes items such as packaging materials and

The Use of Eco-Bricks as an Alternative Building Block

for Philippine Budget Houses GED0101
 The Use of Eco-Bricks as an Alternative Building Block
for Philippine Budget Houses GED0101

shopping bags (South China Morning Post, 2019). Furthermore, numerous lawmakers who cares

for the environment have filed ordinances that attempts to authorize a nationwide ban of single-

use plastic such as (but not limited to): non-biodegradable straws and stirrers, plastic bags, plastic

bottles, etc.

With the struggle against plastic residuals, locals are even starting to establish changes in

their lifestyles by living by Zero waste programs. However, despite these efforts, again, due to the

absence of a national policy and poor enforcements of laws, people cannot thoroughly eliminate

plastics from their lives (Alegado, 2019). With this predicament, local or national governments,

need to think of effective ways to address this alarming crisis such as strategies to reuse them.

Plan of Action: The Eco-Brick Movement—A New Opportunity

Recently, there has been a new opportunity that was seen as a solution to combat not just

the housing problems here in the Philippines, but also, the growing problem regarding plastic

pollution—the Eco Bricks. Eco-bricks are the name for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles

filled with heavily compressed inorganic, dry, and non-biodegradable waste. Recognized as the

most commonly used plastic in the whole world, PET is a naturally transparent and semi-

crystalline plastic widely used as a fiber for clothing, as an effective moisture barrier with wide

applicability in bottling and packaging, and as an engineering plastic when it is combined with

other materials like glass fiber to significantly increase the material’s strength (Creative

Mechanisms Staff, 2016). Moreover, it is globally known as a safe, non-toxic, strong, lightweight,

flexible material that is fully recyclable. In fact, it’s is the most widely recycled plastic in the

world.

The Use of Eco-Bricks as an Alternative Building Block

for Philippine Budget Houses GED0101
 The Use of Eco-Bricks as an Alternative Building Block
for Philippine Budget Houses GED0101

The technology was invented by Andreas Froese, a German national who involved the use

of single-use PET bottles, debris and earth as raw material for construction. The PET bottles were

filled with soil, sand, mud, or dirt and were used as brick to build houses. The said technology was

rapidly assumed by different third-world countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Philippines,

Norway, and India. This campaign paved way for more than 50 construction programs around the

world. Froese’s plastic bottles, when filled with soil or sand, was proven to effectively work as

building blocks and can even be utilized in walls or pillars, without the help of any conventional

bricks (Muyen et al., 2016).

Employing Froese’s system, ‘Development Association for Renewable Energies,’ a

Nigerian NGO, fruitfully constructed a two-bedroom house completely using plastic bottles which

is said to be “bullet and fireproof, earthquake resilient, and upholds a comfortable internal

temperature of 64° F year round” (Raut, Patel, Jadhwar, Khan, and Dhengare, 2015).

With this, because of the ability of PET bottles to degrade slowly and be recycled time

after time, it is referred as a sustainable construction material. In addition to this, it has become a

low-cost construction material for social projects in places where litter and plastic pollution has

remained a problem (Antico, Araya-Letelier, Gonzalez, Wiener, 2017). Thus, when used as a

construction material for building houses for the less fortunate in the Philippines, would possibly

provide a solution not just for the problem in lack of affordable housing, but also, the growing

plastic pollution in the country.

At present, the Eco-brick movement continuously gains more and more attention. This

movement is led by several green advocates believing it could help the country reduce plastic

The Use of Eco-Bricks as an Alternative Building Block

for Philippine Budget Houses GED0101
 The Use of Eco-Bricks as an Alternative Building Block
for Philippine Budget Houses GED0101

pollution. Motivational techniques such as graded schoolwork or trading a certain number of Eco

bottles for metal straws are instigated to obtain people’s attention, as well as their participation.

Conclusion:

The Philippines, being a third-world country, and its government has continuously been

concerned with the problem of poverty mitigation. Its inability to be held back brought about a

long procession of massive and pervasive problems that continually makes it difficult for a lot of

Filipino citizens to live in comfortable conditions—one of which is the persisting problem to afford

housing.

As a huge portion of the country’s population remains to live in slum areas, the government

remains to look for effective resolutions to combat the scarcity in housing. Attempts were made in

the form of housing programs, but continues to fail due to problems such as time and money.

Problems arise due to lack of research on sustainable housing plans—leading to those that are

expensive, unsustainable, and therefore unattainable. Along with this problem and the predicament

of the persistent global crisis that is plastic pollution, this paper introduced Eco-Bricks as a

potential alternative construction material for Philippine budget houses. With this paper, it was

proved that Eco-Bricks can, in fact, be sustainable and effective alternatives for conventional

construction blocks. With further research, probably in the quantitative angle of durability and

usability, Eco-Bricks can not just only be used in building low-cost houses, but also in building

huge infrastructures such as roads, bridges, industrialized buildings, and the likes. With this, there

is hope that the poverty predicament of our country, and the environmental crisis that our world is

emergently facing can be mitigated—one step at a time.

The Use of Eco-Bricks as an Alternative Building Block

for Philippine Budget Houses GED0101
 The Use of Eco-Bricks as an Alternative Building Block
for Philippine Budget Houses GED0101

NO. OF WORDS: 1,839

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for Philippine Budget Houses GED0101
 The Use of Eco-Bricks as an Alternative Building Block
for Philippine Budget Houses GED0101

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for Philippine Budget Houses GED0101
 The Use of Eco-Bricks as an Alternative Building Block
for Philippine Budget Houses GED0101

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The Use of Eco-Bricks as an Alternative Building Block

for Philippine Budget Houses GED0101