Brickgo
Environmental Protection
Taman Connaught is a residential township in Cheras, with more than 1000 households living in that area. According to the survey, the local residents, shop owners, and students have stated that Taman Connaught has a poor condition of plastic pollution. Also, the respondents of the survey think that there is a need to curb the plastic waste issue. Therefore, we would like to help them to reduce plastic pollution in Taman Connaught by recycling and melting the plastic waste collected from that area into brick moulds to create useful and durable building blocks for constructing eco-friendly and functional facilities for the residents in Taman Connaught.
Overview of Issue / Background
Taman Connaught is a residential township in Cheras, with more than 1000 households living in that area. According to the survey, the local residents, shop owners, and students have stated that Taman Connaught has a poor condition of plastic pollution. Also, the respondents of the survey think that there is a need to curb the plastic waste issue. Therefore, we would like to help them to reduce plastic pollution in Taman Connaught by recycling and melting the plastic waste collected from that area into brick moulds to create useful and durable building blocks for constructing eco-friendly and functional facilities for the residents in Taman Connaught.
Project Objectives (Vision & Mission)
- To promote plastic waste reduction and recycling act among the residents in Taman Connaught.
- To educate Taman Connaught residents to take care of their own waste at the source.
- To create awareness towards the dangers of plastic pollution to our environment.
- To produce useful and durable building blocks through the melting of plastic waste into brick moulds.
- To construct beneficial facilities such as animal rain shelters/food areas for stray animals or garbage/recycling bins for the public in Taman Connaught using recycled plastic bricks.
- To recycle plastic for the replacement of conventional and wasteful building materials.
- To create brick moulds for the melted plastic waste, which allows the recycled plastic bricks to be duplicated for future construction.
Project Details (Activities and Tasks)
- Create and send out survey forms to understand Taman Connaught residents’ needs.
- Implement crowdfunding through Gofundme and GivingHub platform.
- Committees and residents collect plastic waste by plogging around university, Menara Gading and Taman Connaught residential areas, other than collecting plastic waste from their home.
- Booth will be opening at UCSI university for plastic waste collection.
- Clean the plastic wastes which were collected after each booth opening.
- Reform the plastic wastes into eco-friendly bricks through the process of melting the plastic wastes into brick moulds.
- Build animal rain shelters/food areas for stray animals or garbage/recycling cans for the public in Taman Connaught by using recycled plastic bricks.
- Place the constructed facilities around Taman Connaught.
Expected Project Result & Outcomes
The environment, as well as the population in Taman Connaught can benefit from the project when the level of plastic pollution drops down moderately throughout the process of recycling and the formation of recycled plastic bricks. The level of plastic pollution can be measured through observing the condition of plastic waste disposal in Taman Connaught area. It is also expected that there are more households and individuals from that area to be more aware of the importance of plastic waste reduction and recycling. This can be measured through a post-project survey with the people from Taman Connaught. In terms of the moulded bricks, the outcome of the project is to build at least 5 garbage/recycle bins for the public or 3 rain shelters/food areas for stray animals within the project timeframe. It can slowly be replicated and used as the replacement of conventional and wasteful building materials for some facilities within the area such as rain shelters and bus stops.
0% of RM1.00 Goal
Project Information
| University name | : | UCSI University |
| Project leader name | : | Chin Wei |
| Facebook link | : | https://www.facebook.com/BrickgoUY |
| Instagram link | : | https://www.instagram.com/brickgo_/ |
| Project implementation date | : | 2021-07-01 |
| Location of project held | : | UCSI University, Taman Connaught, Brickgo Official Social Media |
| Beneficiary | : | Taman Miharja Apartment community, Brickgo’s event participants |
| Number of beneficiaries | : | 208 people |
Section I
- Summary of project goals with two sentences.
To aid in the development of a sustainable city by reducing plastic pollution through the reformation of plastic wastes into recycled plastic bricks. Moreover, this is a project which is a stepping-stone for constructing beneficial facilities that are durable and environmentally friendly for the public.
- Did other fund-raising efforts contribute to your projects? What were they?
- Giving Hub Campaign
- RM1 for the Better Campaign
- Provide details about how your project actually worked.
Project Summary:
- Received Grant from Khind Starfish Foundation
- 1st July
Crowdfunding through Giving Hub platform and RM1 for the Better campaign
- 9th July
Meeting with Mr. Razak
- 14th July
Meeting with Carlos Steenland, co-founders of Sea Monkey Project
- 26th July
Recruit 2nd batch committees
- 3rd August
Meeting with Biji - Biji Initiative
- 10th August
Development of Brickgo phase plan
- 27th August - 31st August
5-Day Plastic Pollution Quiz - Participants share about knowledge on recycling
- 13th September - 31st October
Call For Plastics - Collect plastics from participants
- 17th September - 19th September
Recycling At Home: Committees Edition - Home recycling program
- 19th September
Recruit 3rd batch committees
- 20th September - 11th October
Finalising the brick mould design
- 8th October - 12nd October
Recycling At Home: Community Edition - Home recycling program
- 13th October
Machine training with Biji - Biji Initiative
- 30th October - 31st October
The Essence of Upcycling - Awareness talk
- 3rd November
3-in-1 Recycling Machine delivery from Biji - Biji Initiative to UCSI University
- 9th November - 27th November
Clean Up Warriors - Recruitment of volunteer to help with cleaning the plastics
- 11th November
Finalising the brick mould design
- 12th November - 22th November
Order of brick mould plates
- 4th December
Collection of plastics from Taman Miharja Apartment
- 9th December - 25th December
Welding of brick mould plates
- 26th December - 31st December
Formation of brick and model design - Completion of 1 brick
- Were there unanticipated difficulties? Budget constraints?
- Collection point issues
Due to the pandemic, we encountered difficulties in acquiring a suitable collection point within the campus area as well as the external recycling centres. Recycling centres were planned to be used as a collection point, however, there was no reply after contacting them. After we had confirmed the location in the campus, we had also found out that some of our participants could not travel to our area because of the Movement Control Order (MCO).
- Lack of manpower
Some of the team members encountered an impediment to help in the workshop on account of the pandemic due to their considerably distant residency and/or parents’ concerns which resulted in a lack of manpower, hindering the project’s schedule.
- Budget constraints
The logistic fee of the recycling machine was costly as the renting of lorry was required for safe transportation to and from Brickgo’s workshop. When it comes to the creation of recycled plastic brick, a large amount of money was spent as well on the tools and materials needed for the brick.
- Language or cultural barriers?
No, we communicate well with our community by using Mandarin and English.
- What worked well? What didn’t work well?
- What work well
Teamwork. Some of our team members were unable to participate in the physical activities to assist with cleaning and collecting the plastics due to MCO. However, those who were able to physically assist have given their time to provide physical effort. We assist and support one another in a variety of ways to ensure that the project works successfully.
- What didn’t work well
As Malaysia entered MCO, we were unable to engage in physical activities, resulting in a shortage of manpower and suppliers who were also unable to conduct business. This has caused our project to be delayed, and as a result, brick formation can only be completed after the submission of the final report.
- How many people benefited or will benefit from your project? Who are these people?
There are about 208 people who benefited from our project. Below is the list of the people who have participated in our project.
- Taman Miharja Apartment Community: around 20 people
- Brickgo x 5-Day Plastic Pollution Quiz event (27-08-21): 40 people
- Brickgo x Call For Plastics (13-09-21): 70 people
- Brickgo x Recycling At Home (08-10-21): 29 people
- Brickgo x The Essence of Upcycling (30-10-21): 42 people
- Brickgo x Clean Up Warriors (09-11-21): 7 people
- What is the long-term impact and sustainability of this project? Is there a future for your project?
It can build a strong blueprint for the future because for now there are not many people who are using plastic to make bricks. Plastic brick has the potential to replace conventional brick in the future and it is undeniably a creative and effective solution to prevent landfilling and plastic pollution while still extracting value from post-used plastic. Hence, we can build a better future with recycled plastic bricks.
Section II
- In several paragraphs, address each of the following questions:
- How does or will your project contribute to happiness? Short-term? Long-term?
Yes, it will contribute to long term happiness. By building bricks, it can reduce the chances for type 2 and type 5 plastic wastes from polluting the environment. The effect is hard to be seen in the short term because there are quite a number of stages in making the bricks, which begins with the collection of plastics, cleaning of plastics, cutting and shredding the plastics before extruding into the mould.
Brickgo helps in constructing structure without the help of cement to glue it together; it has a unique shape where it can support holding other Brickgos. It cuts down on the use of environmentally harmful concrete. The cement, which is used to produce concrete, is one of the most significant emitters of greenhouse gases because producing cement can result in the release of carbon dioxide; thus, contributing to global warming because of the heat the greenhouse gas absorbs while staying in the atmosphere. When there is less pollution to the air, the number of people living happily will definitely increase.
- Has your project changed the way you think about the world? How has it changed you?
The project has changed our way of thinking about the world because it increases our awareness towards the surrounding. Previously, we used to focus a lot on our studies, activities and our work. Thus, we put less attention to the environment.
As students, we never thought of being able to come up with an idea to help the environment. However, we believe that by initiating an action, it will form a source of motivation to encourage others. There were many problems happening in between of the project implementation, which made us stronger and strengthened our bond as a group. We learnt about the skills in event planning, problem solving and most importantly, we realised the importance of working together in a group to reach a goal.
- Complete this section with a one to two sentence personal statement, suitable for use as a quotation, addressing how and why this project was valuable and what was the most important thing you learned as a result. (Indicate student’s name for quote attribution.)
“This project is valuable as it raises awareness of the importance of reducing the volume of discarded materials and reducing production.The most important lesson I took away from this project is that the waste we generate on a daily basis has its own purpose”
Ng Yi Woon
“Being a committee of Brickgo, I've come to realise how important recycling is in our life when we put the whole picture together. There may be many ways to save Earth, but transforming wastes back into something useful just like the recycled plastic bricks would definitely be an effective method to save our planet 🌍”
Lew Xiao Wei
“Take any challenge no matter it is hard or easy”
Ooi Zhi Keng
“Working on this project with this team has strengthened my belief that even we as students can impact the community and help make the future more sustainable. It has taught me valuable skills that will help me manage projects better”
Rehman bin Amir
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