1. A two-sentence summary of the project goals.

The main objective of the project is to encourage and create sustainable development which helps to bring awareness of sustainability and education of 3R (Reduce, Reuse& Recycle). Along the process, the team members can apply all engineering knowledge/ theory that has been learnt and enhance teamwork also awareness of environmental protection among students

2. Did other fund-raising efforts contribute to your projects? What were they?

Sharing posters and videos related to the project to social media platform especially Instagram has played a significant role throughout the project. It has implemented awareness to the public on social media about environmental protection to save the Earth. It was heart touching to have strangers, acquaintance and known contacts from social media to donate to support the project.

3. Provide details about how your project actually worked.
4. 1. Where is the project location?

The project location is Near Surau Al – Khwarizmi at Block C, Faculty of Engineering UMS.

1. 2. How long is the project carried out?

Approximately three months from December 2020 until February 2021. In December 2020, we did some online discussion for the planning due to the declaration of Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) by government and for that we were not able to discuss face to face. In January 2021, we finally started our project in the Concrete Laboratory at the Faculty of Engineering, UMS for the prototype construction and finally, in February 2021 we installed the interlocking brick at the chosen location.

1. 3. Who were involved in the project?

Throughout the preparation and execution of this project many parties were involved directly and indirectly but mainly students and the communities inside and around the universities. The majority of students involved in this project were undergraduate students from the engineering faculty and a few volunteers from the faculty of computing and information.

1. 4. What are the processes involved in the project?

At first during the online discussion in December 2020, we did some brainstorms on the material management. The task distributions had been made by the group leader which includes finding the supplier of the materials required, surveying the prices of the materials, transportation management from the supplier to UMS, and recorded data of the materials that have been bought.

After surveying all the affordable prices for the materials, the material supplier that was chosen was Sepanggar Hardware and the materials that we bought were cement, sand and rapid hardening for the interlocking brick project. As for the management of transportation from the supplier to UMS, we had already informed Bahagian Keselamatan UMS and the supplier must fill in the Self Risk Assessment Tools before entering UMS. The materials were then transported to the Concrete Laboratory at Faculty of Engineering, UMS.

In 6th January 2021, we started our prototype construction at the Concrete Laboratory until 10th February. The uncommon thing that makes this brick special is that the brick's mix design is modified by replacing a few percent of the fine aggregate amount with plastic bottle as the primary objective of the study is to reduce the waste of the plastic bottle. The interlocking brick was constructed by using the rectangular design mould that has eight parts of brick arrangement for aesthetic purposes. There were approximately 380 bricks that were made for the interlocking brick pavement and it was red and orange in colour.

On 23rd February, the interlocking brick pavement has been successfully installed at the selected location in which the layers that was involved for the brick pavement are the existing ground soil, 50mm of chipping aggregate, 50mm sand layer and finally 40mm bricks paver.

1. 5. Challenges faced during the project execution?

The restrictions due to Movement Control Order (MCO) hinders the delay of implementation of the interlocking brick in the original place which is Politeknik Kota Kinabalu. Then the place has to be moved to UMS Surau because Politeknik Kota Kinabalu is not yet open to students. Other than that, the hardship that we went is getting a supplier for the materials used in our project as most of the shops are closed during this pandemic. Another challenge is the difficulties in the collection process of plastic materials.

1. 6. How do you overcome the challenges?

We prepared a plan B for the location of installing the interlocking brick in UMS. We also got permission and approval from the Faculty of Engineering (FKJ) Dean in advance for the placement of the brick in FKJ. In order to solve the second challenge, we contacted nearby supplier for quotations and made arrangement for immediate delivery after the MCO is lifted. Lastly, the team members contacted nearby restaurants and shop owners to collect plastic materials.

1. 7. What are the benefits of the project?

In terms of sustainability, the benefit from the project is, we manage to find an alternative way of disposing plastic bottles. In our project, plastic bottles are cut into smaller pieces and then added into the cement paste for the brick making. Adding to that, through this project we have achieved the aim to pave ways for upcoming projects that uses waste materials as construction materials. This will help to reduce pollution thus it will promote a better environment for the future.

1. In several paragraphs, address each of the following questions:

How does or will your project contribute to happiness? Short-term? Long-term?

These plastic bricks project has definitely contributed to happiness of the society. This is because using plastics in the manufacturing of block paver definitely can reduce plastic pollution. Other than that, having the communities to take part in this project can increase awareness about plastic pollution as well as can encourage them to do other sustainability projects or 3R practices in the future. During the installation process of these blocks, the communities feel very amazed that these blocks actually contain plastics and they really hope that one day, these type of plastics approach in producing blocks will be manufactured in the factory.

As for the short-term period, these bricks are indeed very beautiful and very useful as for landscaping. This is because people can make their own dimension, shape design, colour (paint), and many more to produce these bricks. However, there are no laboratory test done in regard to the strength and durability of these bricks. Thus, as for long-term uses, these laboratory tests must be done thoroughly so that these types of bricks can be used widely use in many purposes such as construction projects and broadly manufactured, especially in our country and most importantly plastic pollution can be reduced.

Has your project changed the way you think about the world? How has it changed you?

The project that is done for the past 3 months had given us the opportunity to know the usage of implementing a project of sustainability that can give benefits to the community especially for the students. This project help students to improve skills on creating idea on reusing plastic waste and developing new materials. This new material can used as a replacement for the bricks on the walkways which can initially increase the innovation skills for a student. Through this, students can also increase teamwork spirit on the completion of this project This kind of innovation ideas mainly contributes to effective management of plastic wastage which can reduce the demand production of plastic in the market. In nutshell, this project contributes to the innovation of plastics in the future.

2. 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 serves an instrument to raise the awareness on the environment in regard of providing a sustainable solution to safeguard it. The main focus of this project is to pave ways to welcome more implementation of the using waste as material for construction.”

-Mohammad Shahran

“The best contribution one can make to humanity is to improve oneself.”

-Ifmal Izmie “There is nothing we can't do when we are together to solve the problem

-Norlindah

“Saving the Earth from suffer is a must. If not us to start this action, then who?! As i learned about this project is teamwork will make the impossible work turns possible.

• Nur Syaheera Murfiqah Mokhtar

“Blood, sweat and tears are the key to success”

• Lisa Olivia Gudid.

“Your teammates are your family and no one gets left behind”

• Reekha.

“Laugh TOGETHER, stress TOGETHER, making memories TOGETHER but with TOGETHER we managed to achieve the extraordinary result”

-Mohammad Syahir

“Rather than waiting for someone to save the world, why not we fight together to save the world?”

-Lily

“This project has given a golden opportunity for us, the future engineer to understand more about the importance of sustainability. Not only that, we also can share this sustainability knowledge and promote awareness about plastic pollution to the community”

-Flora

"Be a part of the solution, not part of the pollution"

-Mohammad Hafezudin

“The greatest threat in the world is the belief that someone else will save it”

-Danial