The Endangered Wildlife Trust is working to boost education by building important structures at schools using ecobricks and this is how you can help.
The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) is making a massive difference in the lives of children at underprivileged schools. They have started a project that will see new structures being built using ecobricks.
An Ecobrick is made up of a large plastic bottle which is packed full of un-recyclable material like sweet wrappers, balloons, straws and chip packets. This method represents a zero waste system and greatly reduces the waste ending up in landfills. The bricks are well-insulated and resistant to earthquakes.
As part of their project, they plan to build raised vegetable beds at the Itireleng Primary School, who have been trying desperately to grow vegetables for three years, with limited success.
“We hope that by building raised garden beds and filling them with topsoil and home-made compost, they will find it much easier to produce vegetables. We are also assisting Lefofa Primary School, who want to build benches for the learners to sit on instead of the hard ground.”
EWT with generous support from Bakwena N1/N4 Toll Concessionaire have supported ten Eco-Schools in Hammanskraal since 2013, and have also implemented the programme in two schools in Alexandra.
The programme benefits 10,242 learners and over 300 teachers, as well as countless parents and other community members. The WESSA Eco-Schools Programme (hereafter Eco-Schools) is an extensive and hands-on, internationally recognised, environmental education programme that focuses on improving environmental management within schools, as well as promoting environmental learning and providing opportunities for students and educators to improve and empower their schools and communities at large.
This year, some of the schools are focusing on improving their school grounds, creating healthier and more productive environments in which to learn and grow. There are two challenges that the schools need to tackle in order to succeed – the lack of reliable waste collection services in the area, and the hard, dry ground that makes growing grass and vegetables close to impossible.
“We introduced the EcoBrick concept as a way to tackle both these issues by using the mountains of plastic blowing through the streets to make EcoBricks, which we will then use to build benches for the learners to sit on, and raised garden beds that we can fill with topsoil and grow lots of vegetables for the school feeding schemes, and to create additional income for the schools.
This is, however, just the beginning. We are learning as we go and hope that we will ultimately be able to build more complex infrastructure such as classrooms in all of our schools, and others. While there is a lot of plastic in and around the schools, it takes quite a long time to make an EcoBrick that is strong enough to build with.”
One 2-litre bottle can hold three large rubbish bags full and one bench requires approximately 220 bricks. That is why the Trust has appealed to the public and joined forces with Pick n Pay to ensure that it is convenient for people to drop their bricks off.
“We also hope that the campaign raises awareness about how much plastic we all consume every day, and encourage people to cut down on their use of plastics, and transform existing plastics into something with which we can build a better future.”
In making good ecobricks, the general rule to ensure that a brick is dense enough. The trick to ensuring this is to multiply the volume of the bottle by 0.35, and that is how heavy the brick should be. For example, a two-litre bottle should weigh around 700g. The best place to go for anything EcoBrick related is www.ecobricks.org.
“We also have a community page on www.gobrik.com, where people can log the bricks they’ve made and see how much plastic they are removing from the landfills and oceans, and how much carbon is sequestered by their bricks.”
It is very easy to donate an Ecobrick or two to the cause. Pick n Pay has teamed up with the Trust to help with collection points. You can find all the information you need below.
“In support of this project, Pick n Pay has placed EcoBrick collection boxes in all of their HYPERMARKETS nationally, as well as the following standard stores in Gauteng: Rosebank Mall, Cresta Mall, Mulbarton, Hatfield and Nicol, and in the Western Cape: Tygervalley and Constantia.”
The boxes are available nationwide at Pick n Pay hypermarkets, if you are at one and can’t find the box, ask the manager to please put it out. Every brick will make a difference.
If you can get to your closest Pick n Pay Hypermarket you can use any of their other dropoff points below:
- EWT Head Office – Building K2, Pinelands Office Park, Ardeer Road, Modderfontein.
- Modderfontein Reserve – Arden Road, Modderfontein
- Friends of Free Wildlife – 193, 1 Maple Road, Kyalami
- Eden College Lyndhurst – 48 Johannesburg Road, Lyndhurst.
- The Biodiversity Company – 420 Vale Avenue, Ferndale (close to Malibongwe)
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Hi I’m in Durban KZN and I’m an educator. I would like to be part of this project. Please email details on how to get involved
Good day, if we as a “voortrekker kommando” want to do this as a year project and get our kids involved. How can we go about this. We are in bloemfontein
Where in durban can ecobricks be dropped. Hyper says eco campaign has ended