Rwandan engineer recycles glass to make eco-friendly bricks

Disir

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Sep 30, 2011
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Disposal of tonnes of waste glass is a major environmental challenge but one Rwandan says he has found an answer by recycling glasses and ceramic waste.

Eng. Aimable Mutabazi, 32, a graduate from the University of Rwanda, set up a brick manufacturing and construction company, Byiza Vuba Ltd, where glass bottles and ceramics are recycled to make glass concrete bricks.

“The glass aggregate we use comes from used glasses and bottles, windows and car windshields. Once the glass becomes waste, it creates a problem as it does not decompose. We use that waste glass in concrete as partial replacement of cement, it helps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and glass waste dumping all over the place,” he said.

The construction company is just seven months old but has already contributed much in glass waste collection at Kigali’s public dumpsite at Nduba. It uses modern technology to mix glass waste with other materials such as sand and cement to make bricks.

Mutabazi explained that the mixture is compressed in a machine which results in a compacted brick of high density.

“Compared to other bricks available on the local market, ours are very cheap. For instance, for a house that costs 30 million, for us we can complete it for Rwf10 million. This means our clients save up to 50 per cent,” Mutabazi said.
Rwandan engineer recycles glass to make eco-friendly bricks

That is very cool!
 

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