Recycling firm to launch prefabricated houses made from plastic waste

DAVAO CITY — Winder Recycling Co. is preparing to roll out prefabricated houses made from plastic waste by next year, according to Managing Partner Winchester O. Lemen.
Mr. Lemen, who also heads the Zambales-based Envirotech Waste Recycling Inc. (EWRI), which produces furniture from plastic trash, said they have designed a 28-square meter house that is estimated to cost not more than P350,000.

The house, he said, is “suitable for rural areas because aside from it can be built fast, it will use solar panels and can even collect rainwater.”
Mr. Lemen said they are planning to partner with the Home Development Mutual Fund, better known as Pag-IBIG Fund, to allow members to apply for a loan for their product.
“We will make sure that Pag-IBIG Fund will know about this project,” he said. Each housing unit will require about three tons of plastic waste. Winder Recycling’s Davao plant can mold about 60 tons of plastic per month. Aside from furniture and house production, the company is also pursuing partnerships with local government units (LGUs) and national agencies on plastic waste management, including transfer of their technology.

“We can help them manage their (LGUs’) plastic wastes,” he said. Under the scheme, an LGUs must look for a corporate sponsor for the facility that would cost about P12 million to set up and requires at least 800 square meters, while Winder Recycling will provide training to those who will operate the plant.

He cited one partnership in Claver, Surigao del Norte, wherein a mining company funded the facility that could employ at least 40. “We are encouraging other companies to do their share (by partnering with LGUs in setting up the processing plants),” he said. The EWRI processing plant in Candelaria, Zambales, mainly produces chairs for schools and offices.

The school chairs, which cost an average of P1,700 each, are usually purchased by companies through their corporate social responsibility fund and donated to public schools. Mr. Lemen said they are also working on potential expansion opportunities in other countries, including India, Nepal, and France. In France, he cited, a company wants exclusivity for the processing plant that it wants to install “as soon as possible because they know what is happening” in terms of the global problem on plastic waste.

SOURCE: Carmelito Q. Francisco

Recycling firm to launch prefabricated houses made from plastic waste – BusinessWorld (bworldonline.com)

DCWD employees innovate seedlings shelter

Used plastic bottles are turned into shelters for seedlings through Davao City Water District’s Recycling Month contest. The Commercial Services Department emerged as the first placer with their full dome entry that was later installed at DCWD’s nursery in Malagos watershed.

Employees of Davao City Water District stepped up efforts to support the water utility’s annual celebration of July as Recycling Month. Through the in-house contest “Ang Basura Ko, May Pakinabang Ito”, six domes that would serve as shelter for seedlings in DCWD nurseries have been made out of recycled plastic bottles.

Launched in July, the contest culminated on August 26, 2016 with a simple program for the judging and awarding of entries. Invited judges were Miriam S. Colon, executive director of People Collaborating for Environmental and Economic Management in Davao Foundation, Inc.; Arch. Gloryrose D. Metilla, chief innovations and design officer of the social enterprise Swito Designs Inc.; and Engr. Winchester O. Lemen president and CEO of Envirotech Waste Recycling Inc. who is also tagged as Davao City’s recycled plastics king.

Based on the criteria of environmental compatibility, stability and durability (30%), functionality (30%), concept and originality (25%), and oral interpretation of the entry (15%), the winners were Commercial Services Department in first place, Information and Communications Technology Department in second place and the team composed of the Corporate Planning and Internal Audit departments and Pollution Control and Safety Office in third place. The top three teams each received a plaque.

Runners-up were the Accounting Department, Pipelines and Appurtenances Maintenance Department and the team composed of the offices of the Board of Directors, General Manager and Assistant General Managers, and the Legal Department.

Atty. Bernardo D. Delima Jr., officer-in-charge of the Community Relations and External Affairs Department that organized the contest said the annual celebration of Recycling Month is in line with the District’s mandate to protect and conserve the city’s water resources. He added that the celebration is among DCWD’s small contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals espoused by the United Nations to ensure access to water and sanitation for all and ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns particularly the aim to substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse.

DCWD director Serafin C. Ledesma Jr. was also happy to note the utility’s efforts to practice recycling while general manager Engr. Edwin V. Regalado thanked the employees for always responding actively to the activities for the environment initiated by the District.

The next day, selected employees gathered again for the installation of the plastic domes at the nurseries located in DCWD’s project sites within Mt. Talomo-Lipadas, Mt. Tipolog-Tamugan and Malagos watersheds.

SOURCE: DCWD employees innovate seedlings shelter (davao-water.gov.ph)

Jamae G. Dela Cruz

Davao City’s recycled plastics king

He still remembers his father telling him that one day, he will become the next biggest plastics manufacturer in the country.

Winchester O. Lemen took his father’s word so seriously that he ended up recycling soft plastic wastes mined from landfills and turning these into classroom chairs, park benches, and soon, perhaps, a house.

Lemen’s father, Marcelo, who owned EuroPlastico, which is based in Malinta District in Davao City, was among the first to manufacture Styrofoam products in the country in the 1970s.

By recycling soft plastics from discarded shampoo sachets, candy and junk food wrappers, Lemen, president and chief executive officer of Envirotech Waste Recycling Inc., says he can easily reduce the volume of waste clogging drainage canals and filling the landfills of major towns and cities in the country.

Envirotech aims to be a part of the movement to regain ecological intelligence and balance. It has a plant in Bunawan District, also in Davao City.

Soft plastics

“What we collect are only soft plastics, not the hard plastics, which still has value for junk shops,” says Lemen, a mechanical engineer by profession. His chairs, park benches and decking pieces can easily be mistaken for real wood, and could last up to 20 years, way above the five-year average life-span of wooden chairs, he says.

Lemen is trying to convince as many local government units in the country to allow him to make use of the existing wastes in their landfill for his raw materials.

A councilor in Quezon City, who ordered 60 pieces of Lemen’s products, plans to sponsor a resolution banning wooden chairs in city classrooms to protect the environment. “It’s his way of helping save the trees,” Lemen says.

“One small chair made entirely of recycled plastics can help save one 3-year-old tree, while helping fill the shortage of chairs in the classroom,” he says.

ANOTHER product made of recycled plastics, a bench, is displayed in the house of Lemen in Davao City. GERMELINA LACORTE

A year after settling in Davao City in 2001, Lemen put up his first company, Redwood Logistics Corp., to produce corner posts for banana plantations out of discarded polybag plastics. But the cost of the materials kept going up so he started looking for other possible sources.

Tagum landfill

In a landfill in Tagum City in Davao del Norte, he found a rich repository of discarded plastics. In 2010, Tagum Mayor Rey Uy allowed him to make use of the garbage.

Over eight months, Lemen hauled 800 tons of mixed plastic wastes, reducing largely the volume of trash.

“I first recycled (the garbage) into school chairs. When I was able to make the perfect chair for schools, the Quezon City councilor gave his order,” he says.

One chair costs only P700, a bit lower than the P900 for an armchair made of wood and steel. Plastic monobloc chairs cost P1,100 apiece.

Other areas in the country followed Tagum. Envirotech now has an agreement with the barangay chair of Calinan District in Davao City; the towns of Panabo, Kapalong and Sto. Tomas in Davao del Norte; Hinatuan in Surigao del Sur; Compostela town in Compostela Valley; Agusan del Sur; Isulan town in Sultan Kudarat; Koronadal City in South Cotabato; and Balut Island in Sarangani.

More inquiries

“From north to south, from Visayas to Luzon, everybody was inquiring about this technology,” Lemen says.

He says a town of La Union in Luzon is working on a resolution to give him a place where he can recycle plastic materials. While in Cebu, an Envirotech partner is putting up a plant to convert biodegradable wastes in Mandaue City into biogas, scheduled to start operation next year.

In Davao City, he says, he can help a lot in decreasing its waste volume. The city government had contended with 600 tons of waste a month before it implemented a plastic ban ordinance that reduced the volume to 400 tons.

“After I start in Calinan, hopefully, the rest of the barangays will follow,  I can saturate the lower part of (Davao) city,” Lemen says.

Gov’t support

Right now, Envirotech can produce 2,000 chairs a month, using the manually pressed system. Lemen is appealing for government help so he can come up with an automated system that will greatly reduce the volume of plastics in the landfill.

The company also produces pavement and walling blocks, and floor and roof tiles, With these products, Lemen says, he plans to make an entire house out of recycled soft plastics.

“The maximum temperature during the day is less than 40 degrees Celsius and is way below the 300 to 500 degrees when plastics begin to melt,” he says. “So, it’s safe to build a house made entirely of recycled soft plastics.”

“It won’t be long from now,” he says.

Source: Davao City’s recycled plastics king | Inquirer News

by Germelina Lacorte | INQUIRER