Awoke Ogbo, a university graduate in Global Challenges at Africa Leadership University based in Rwanda is preserving the environment by recycling plastic bottles into bricks and pavers.

The idea is in line with Rwanda’s decision to ensure a sustainable environment since the government commenced elimination of use of single use plastics in 2019. However, PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) plastic bottles are still used due to a shortage of alternatives, with the investors urged to intervene in their sustainable management.

Awoke, who focused on education and infrastructure in university, says Operation 414 is a social enterprise idea that will create roads and pathways that are more eco-friendly and affordable for the Rwandan community in a way that will encourage community building in the places they will develop with the use of those bricks.

The idea came to him when he had just started university and the pathway leading to the student residence was not paved, and he felt that as a future leader, he had to do something about it.

"At that time, I realized that there has to be a financial backup to make certain decisions, which made me think of an alternative and affordable way of solving that issue while also preserving the environment,” said Awoke.

Operation 414 aims to promote a circular economy since the whole concept includes limiting the resources wasted in creating certain products.

"It will promote circular economy since those plastic bottles instead of becoming trash they will recycle in an ecofriendly way which will also promote economic growth,” said awoke.

The young entrepreneur is putting his ideas into creation after REMA refused to grant an extension of the grace period for single-use plastics to manufacturers.

How are the bricks made?

"These bricks are made from plastic and sand. We melt the plastic to a point where it has a texture good enough to be mixed with sand,” said Awoke. "When it is still in that state, it is mixed with sand according to the proportion we are going to make, and then they can be compressed or not, depending on the plastic-type,” he added.

He says currently, out of 1.2 kg of plastic bottles equaling almost 80 soda bottles, Awoke is able to make more than 40 bricks, which he says is affordable and profitable at the same time.  Currently, the workshop for the bricks is at the ALU campus.

Awoke also focused on the safety of the bricks. He said that there’s no risk of the bricks melting because the sunlight doesn’t create that much heat to the extent of melting the bricks, which makes the bricks safe to use.

He explained that these bricks are coming to solve infrastructure problems in the city, and they will be more affordable to the community for people to pave their pathways, which will turn the whole system into economic prosperity.

When it comes to brick prices, they are currently Rwf 8000 per square meter, which equates to RWF 250 per brick.

When asked about the challenges they face during the process, he stated that the strategy is labour-intensive at the moment, which can be difficult, and it is why they are working to improve the way the bricks are manufactured.

"Because we are new, the procedure is still labour-intensive,” Awoke said, "but we’re looking to improve our system by using machinery to create.”

According to Awoke, there are many plans for Project 4.1.4. He stated that he wants to distribute the bricks across the country in order to boost their affordability for the community’s benefit.

"We’d like to keep making these more affordable bricks and distributing them across the country to expand the number of accessible bricks we make,” Awoke added.