Shell has partnered with Green Antz Builders in the Philippines to build a petrol station using eco-bricks made from upcycled plastic waste.
The service station at Bulacan is the first commercial building in the Philippines that is completely made from eco-bricks, and the first globally for the Anglo-Dutch supermajor.
The station was constructed using 26,512 eco-bricks supplied by Green Antz and made from 1200 kilograms of upcycled plastic waste, which is equivalent to 80,000 lubricant bottles.
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“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,” said Pilipinas Shell vice president and general manager for retail, Randy Del Valle.
The move is a first step in Shell’s journey to support a circular economy approach, which is based on the concept that things are designed to last longer and to be reused, repurposed or recycled.
Sourced from Green Antz’s Plaridel eco-brick hub, the materials were also gathered from various sources, including the waste management programmes of several local governments.
“We call it urban mining. Instead of getting all the resources from the environment, we just look around and source for plastic waste,” said Green Antz chief engineer Rommel Benig.
“In fact, we’re not calling it waste, we’re calling it a resource.”
Shell is also working with Green Antz through its social development arm to set up an eco-brick manufacturing hub in Cagayan De Oro.