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SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT EXPLOITING RUBBLE AND NONPERISHABLE WASTE AFTER EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE Eco-park home Zamorano Tegucigalpa, Honduras (2002). Reserve water tank Calí, Colombia (2008). Retaining wall Río Cauca Calí, Colombia(2008).
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Page 1: Ecotec Haiti English

SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT EXPLOITING RUBBLE AND NONPERISHABLE WASTE AFTER EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE

Eco-park home Zamorano Tegucigalpa, Honduras (2002).

Reserve water tank Calí, Colombia (2008).

Retaining wall Río Cauca Calí, Colombia(2008).

Page 2: Ecotec Haiti English

According to the UN, the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haití left over one and a half million people suffering without homes, lacking basic infrastructure, and facing serious social problems. The objective of the present project is to offer a solution to these problems through training programs in ECO-TEC sustainable construction techniques. Our methods allows the development of a large variety of structural works, such as water storage tanks, temporary shelters, warehouses, ecological parks and permanent housing through management of post-disaster rubble and the

transformation of nonperishable waste like PET bottles, plastic, and tires into construction supplies. The ECO-TEC method also addresses social issues through a community engagement process that trains the people and strengthens community support networks.

INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF SOLID WASTE

When natural disasters like earthquakes occur, one of the most pressing emergency response issues is providing the population with clean water. Disposable plastic water bottles generate plastic waste, compounding issues of inefficient garbage management and dependence on external resources.

The need for management of the large amount of rubble left by collapsed structures is especially critical in urban contexts. The lack of integral l o c a l s t r a t e g i e s f o r t h e r e u s e a n d transformation of the large quantities of post-disaster rubble often results in negative environmental and social impacts and inadequate final disposal of the material.

Page 3: Ecotec Haiti English

Based on sustainability principles, ECO-TEC implements an overall strategy consisting of engaging local people in an inexpensive self-build ‘autoconstruction’ method of recycling plastic bottles, filling them (with rubble, plastic bags, or dirt), and using bottle-bricks in the construction and improvement of infrastructures.

The ECO-TEC method is advantageous over other construction systems, because it does not require qualified labor or sophisticated machinery. Our process is an easy-to-learn and easy-to-apply technique in which every person can participate: handicapped persons, seniors, men, women, and children. Our method utilizes reused materials and simple tools which are easy to find immediately surrounding the construction site.

Costs are minimal. The ECO-TEC method promotes community involvement during the reconstruction, always based on solidarity and community support network principles. In addition, the ECO-TEC housing construction process allows contribution from structural engineers in the design of earthquake-resistant buildings and the technical implementation of the construction system.

HOUSE AND WALL. CAMPO CIELO. TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS (2005).

Transform rubble into material for construction La Calera, Colombia (2009).

Page 4: Ecotec Haiti English

STRENGTHENING COMMUNITY SUPPORT NETWORKS

Developing strategies that allow the mitigation of severe social conditions generated by the post-disaster crisis is an urgent priority. Often incoming aid technologies generate external dependency, whereas the ECO-TEC system is a viable way of getting the inhabitants actively involved in the reconstruction process, and, in this way, channeling the pain and frustration left by a catastrophe.

Our system incorporates, as one of its fundamental pillars, community work as well as social reinstatement. ECO-TEC trains a considerable number of people in the technology of transforming rubble and PET bottles into bricks, enabling the local population to build the entire infrastructure required in the reconstruction of their own country, stimulating self-value, solidarity, team work, and prosperous enterprises based on ethical and ecological criteria.

Youth at risk. 20.000 liters. San Martin, Honduras (2005).

House of faith.Project with and for disabled

people. Honduras (2003).

Community training. 7000 liters. Guarne, Antioquía, Colombia (2007).

Community training, NGO Trocaire.23,000 liters. Southern Honduras (2004).

RESERVE WATER TANKS

Page 5: Ecotec Haiti English

ECO-TEC’s autoconstruction system has been successfully developed for over nine years. It has been implemented in more than fifty community projects in Honduras, Bolivia, Colombia, and India.

ECO-TEC has received the following awards and recognitions:

*Winner in the Ecodesign Category, small company, with the project “Water Tanks Construction Using Rubbish”, October 2006, granted by the Central America Environment and D e v e l o p m e n t C o m m i s s i o n . C C A D ( C o m i s i ó n Centroamericana de Ambiente y Desarrollo).

*Winner in the Technological Innovation Category, small company, with the project “Zamorano Ecopark Farm Transformation into a Tourist and Clean Technology Training Center”, October 2002, granted by the Central America Environment and Development Commission. CCAD (Comisión Centroamericana de Ambiente y Desarrollo).

*Recognition Diploma, Institutional Category, for its outstanding contribution to the Honduras natural resources, June 2003, granted by the Honduras Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment - SERNA.

*Recognized by the United Nations in the book 60 Experiences on the Path to Development as one of the top ten environmental projects of 2005. This book was published in Honduras for the worldwide commemoration of 60th anniversary of the United Nations Foundation.

Diamond school Honduras (2004).

Park of life Calí, Colombia (2008).

Ecopark House Zamorano Honduras (2002).

R E S E R V E W A T E R TANK. P r o j e c t b y d i s a b l e d people.7000 litersHonduras (2005).

Page 6: Ecotec Haiti English

The working methodology to construct water tanks or any other needed infrastructure is based on an initial group of ECO-TEC facilitators, each teaching ten inhabitants divided in two separate groups of five people, each group focusing on the construction of one water tank. After four weeks, based on four ECO-TEC facilitators, eight water tanks would be constructed. Therefore, with ECO-TEC facilitator oversight, the forty trained people would teach another ten people each, thus building eighty new water tanks, and so forth. In an estimated three months time, our coordinated efforts would produce 800 water tanks and over 4000 local inhabitants educated in the ECO-TEC technique.

In conclusion, with the overall strategy of ECO-TEC, an imminent emergency requiring reconstruction of a country can create sustainable and ecological communities with a deep sense of b e l o n g i n g . E C O - T E C t r a i n i n g i n t h e implementation of new technologies of waste treatment transforms waste into useful material, trains the community in new autoconstruction techniques, gives the community a bigger range of working possibilities, and thus helps to increase prosperity in what will be, from now on, a new life.

Andreas FroeseSustainable ArchitectureGeneral Manager, [email protected]

Shannon Lee [email protected]

Arq. Luis Carlos Gómez CastañoBiological and Sustainable [email protected] Arq. Ana Maria GutierrezMaster in Interactive Art and [email protected]

Norma Riaño MolinaAnthropologistConflict Resolution [email protected]

Park of life.Calí, Colombia (2008).

www.eco-tecnologia.com Ecotec workshop for environmental NGOs .

Organizmo, Tenjo, Colombia 2009. http://www.organizmo.org/reciclaje.html