Project Eco Block

Environment pollution in Sri Lanka has been going up exponentially especially in the capital city of Colombo. Increased use of polythene and plastic has been a major catalyst of this. Even though there have been efforts by the government to combat eco pollution, their effects have been minimal.

As a solution for this the Rotaract Club of IIT initiated Project Eco Block where eco bricks were made from plastic and polythene waste that were thrown out as garbage.

What is an Eco Brick?

An Eco brick is a PET bottle packed solid with clean and dry used plastic. They serve as reusable building blocks. Eco bricks can be used to produce various items, including furniture, garden walls and other structures.

Project Phases

The project was done in 4 phases. As this is a new and unfamiliar concept in terms of plastic recycling, the project started with a workshop informing the public about eco bricks as the Phase I. It was followed by the following phases,

• Phase II – Creating eco bricks
• Phase III – Collection and storage of eco bricks
• Phase IV – Building eco brick structures
• Value addition – Building a PET Bottle Christmas Tree with the help of two other environmental clubs of Sri Lanka Zero Trash and Pearl Protectors, at the Wellawatte beach.

Impact it created

500 eco-bricks of over 500kg of plastic waste was collected and put into the creation of Eco bricks by all the clubs. Project Eco Block caught attention of media outlets such as themorning.lk, BBC Sinhala News and Pulse media after its completion.

Participation from other clubs

Project Eco Block had quite a number of collaborations from clubs both inside and outside of the country. Some of the clubs who collaborated in this project outside of the country are,

• Rotaract Club of Mwenge Catholic University (RID 9211), Tanzania
• Rotaract Club of Dyal Singh College (RID 3012), India
• Rotaract Club of Karachichi United (RID 3271), Pakistan
• Rotaract Club of Chandigarh City Beautiful (RID 3080), India
• Rotaract Club of Kankaria (RID 3054), India