Innovation

Rebricks Indonesia produce eco building material such as bricks and hollow bricks to build houses. Those bricks are called ecofriendly pavers due to its material that are consisted of not only the cement and sand, but also rejected plastic material. Each Rebrick’s paving brick has two layer. The top layer has no plastic waste, allowing the water to absorb the water without carrying plastic because of water fall or friction. While the bottom layer consist of plastic waste which has composition around 20% of the total material. Furthermore, the production process of the brick gain economic value as well as give benefit to the community and environment.

The sachet type of plastic is rejected by the waste bank. The recycled product from the plastic sachet is rarely found. We can find it at the form of bag, wallet, but there are a little people to use that product. It doesn’t consume high quantity of plastic sachet. Furthermore, it is very challenging to be recycled because it needs chemical product to separate the plastic and the aluminum. Refer to the discussion with the national waste bank at East and Central Jakarta, the plastic sachet has no economic value. The official Waste Management in Jakarta doesn’t buy or sell the plastic sachet. For that reason, waste collector and waste picker don't collect it, hence left it on landfill that is harmful.

The paving block has been certified for the pressure strength of 250kg/cm2, conforming Indonesia national Standard. The production process is started from collecting the waste material from the individual donation, company, and purchase from Waste Bank. The plastic is stacked at the Rebricks factory, then shredded by the special machine, then mixed it with the other material such as cement and sand inside 1 recycle machine. Finally, it was put into the brick-making machine and pressed into bricks.

Inspiration

Ovy Sabrina and Novita Tan has collaborated for many business since they were at the same university, becoming business partners and launching several successful business together. At some moment, they were more concern about the business that is also care for the planet. Like most people who lives in a big city, Ovy and Novita realize the big amount of plastic waste in their daily activities when they eat instant noodles, drinking coffee sachets, and shopping goods in plastic packaging. In fact, they have noticed that those kind of plastic are rejected by the waste bank. “Maybe because we’re mothers, we are more concerned about future generations. Women care about their children and don’t want their kids to grow up surrounded by trash or a destroyed environment. We want to create a healthy, sustainable world for future generations,” explained Sabrina and Tan.

During 2018, they saw a tragic moment near Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, when the dead sperm whale has been found with full of waste in its stomach. Besides, with the full support from Sabrina’s family that has been undergoing construction business for almost 30 years, the two Indonesian women tried to get the correct formula to deal with the eco-friendly brick with good quality. They have tried to correct mistakes, many methods, collaborated with a civil engineer lecturer, and finally found the formulas that are strong enough to withstand pressure, that are productive, and competitively priced.

Eco-bricks were gaining popularity through social media campaign. There were mothers who supported Rebricks by giving the plastic sachet waste. The waste donation become bigger day to day, indicate a good enthusiast from the community that wants a better and clean environment for the earth. Then, Ovy Sabrina and Novita Tan confidently launched Rebricks after their country was regarded as the second-biggest Indonesia marine producer of marine waste in the world. Indonesia has pledged to reduce plastic waste by some 75 percent over the next four years — a huge task in the Southeast Asian country of nearly 270 million people.

Overall impact

Rebricks Indonesia has been chosen as one of three startup by the Circular Innovation Jam (CIJ) organized by The Incubation Network. It has been considered an Indonesia-based company that recycles rejected plastic, turning it into strong and environmentally building material. Many residents especially at around Jakarta City starting to use Rebrick’s product. For example, the residents of the Kasuari community in Bintaro district, south of Jakarta, are not only providing Rebricks with multi-layered composite plastic waste recycled by the community, but also setting up an elegant gazebo in a community park using Rebricks road tiles. Irena and some of the local residents chose Rebricks pavers for their backyard. She has stopped 9.240 pcs packaging plastics from filling up the landfill. Local community at Ciawi has also chose Rebricks for their pedestrian area that could stopped 79.200 pcs of rejected plastic waste. Another success application is the Rebricks Hollow-blocks that has 50kg/cm2 pressure power, could stopped 330kg rejected plastic material from ended up on the landfill and polluting the environment.

Rebricks Indonesia has also contributed and invited in many events such as AISC 2021 Conference Day, SwissCham sustainability lunch, local TV show, etc. All of this event complemented with the social media campaign has raised the awareness to the society about the idea on what and how to deal with the rejected plastic waste material. Rebricks now receive a lot of plastic waste from donors across the country. They then created the drop point as specific place to drop the plastic waste material that people would like to donor it to Rebricks. Besides, Rebricks has actively participate to give presentation and training to the society to raise awareness about the plastic sachet waste. One of extraordinary opportunity is when Rebricks could be one of the speakers for his inaugural activity in the scavenger village, South Jakarta. Through that event, the self-awareness about sorting waste and the importance of protecting the environment has been built starting at the early childhood.

Business benefit

The production of Rebricks has proved to reduce the plastic waste that could end up in landfill. The added value of the product will not impact the strength of the brick because the founder has found the formula. We don’t want to create a new problem with the plastic waste. Therefore, with a proven formula, Rebricks’ paving bricks are very strong, the do not crack even when crushed by vehicles or heavy equipment, thus preventing the micro-plastic pieces from escaping,” Ovy added. Ovy and Novita hoped that more people would like to choose eco-friendly product, leaving the next generation with good environment. By doing such kind of training, they hoped that everyone’s behavior will also be impacted, starting to separate the plastic waste. The drop point has targeted to be added in some areas at Tangerang Selatan, resulting more people donate their rejected plastic waste to be recycled.

The Rebrick’s product has proven to provide eco-friendly building materials that are durable, reliable, and safe to the customer. This positioning strategy will beneficial the consumer who likes to utilize eco-friendly material at their building or facility. The main principles of this production facility compared to others are the Green Method in producing the bricks (shredded and molded, no plastic burning; Designed and sealed to prevent micro-plastic leaks), Circular Economy (Possible lifetime of 20+ years; Reusable, recyclable, and remanufactured), and Mass Production (reaching 100m2/day) to meet the consumer’s needs.

Social and environmental benefit

Eighty eight thousand plastic sachet are processed to produce 100m2 of paving bricks per day. It is equivalent of saving the earth from 33 Million of plastic sachet per year for operating the factory with full capacity. A kind-hearted movement with simple and easy way to duplicate by providing 1 Production area, 3 machines, and 6 manpower. The main principles of this production facility compared to others are the Green Method in producing the bricks (shredded and molded, no plastic burning; Designed and sealed to prevent micro-plastic leaks), Circular Economy (Possible lifetime of 20+ years; Reusable, recyclable, and remanufactured), and Mass Production (reaching 100m2/day) to meet the consumer’s needs.

For the stakeholder, the product innovation will maximize the utility of plastic waste; not just keeping it from landfills, bur pro-actively using this waste constructively. The people gain awareness about how do they throw the plastic waste, especially plastic sachet waste that is considered not useful and rejected by waste bank. With the new knowledge of kind of plastic that is rejected and the place that openly receive that type of plastic waste, the society must put more attention to take care and donate it to the one who can recycle the product to become eco-friendly building material. The number is clear that full demand of the bricks, will stop 88000 plastic sachet from end up on landfill or polluting the environment.

Interview

Ovy Sabrina, Co-Founder