Shell has achieved a company first and demonstrated its commitment to the circular economy by building a new retail oil-change station entirely from bricks made out of plastic waste.
To build the new station in the Philippines, Shell partnered with Green Antz to supply 26,512 eco-bricks, which were made using 1,200 kilograms of waste plastic, some of which may well have ended up in landfill sites. To put this into perspective, this is equivalent to about 80,000 lubricant bottles.
According to PhilStar Wheels, Randy Del Valle, the General Manager of Pilipinas Shell, said that over the last year, the company had focussed on speeding up its move to improve in environmental, social and financial areas. He added:
“At Shell, we believe that this milestone station will not only help us reduce our carbon footprint and meet our ambition to reduce, reuse, recycle waste, but also set a precedent for smarter and cost-efficient station design.”
While the eco-bricks – which are made from waste plastic and glass, as well as other debris – are more costly than their conventional equivalents, Rommel Benig, the CEO of Green Antz, says they can actually reduce construction costs, because they are more compact and five times stronger than standard hollow blocks, so fewer bricks are needed to complete a particular build. In addition, the eco-bricks have better insulating properties, which in turn helps reduce heating costs and benefits the environment through lower energy demands.
In addition, Shell and Green Antz are collaborating in other areas of waste recovery.
