As a leader in your business community, you are concerned about the environment, about problems arising from poorly handled or non-existent waste management systems and about the practices of the contemporary construction industry. You have the power to affect so much positive change, but you need experienced partners to support you along the way.
ECOTEC-Africa now offers latrine construction at rates competitive with companies that use traditional methods. This latrine-building offer does not include any training like our other projects but still result in the same safe, solid, affordable structure. Do you have an eye for style as well? Our latrines make a great community conversation piece!
Our construction times are roughly the same as traditional construction. Please contact us for information and pricing specific to your project site.
John Haley - Project Director/Uganda
ecotecafrica@gmail.com
ecotecafrica@gmail.com
But wait a minute -- What’s wrong with traditional building methods and materials?
One of the most environmentally hazardous industries in the world is the production of cement.
· The production process is inefficient and dangerous.
· The resulting cement dust around production and construction sites is toxic.
· The compounds in cement corrode other materials such as stone.
· Once dry, cement is impermeable to water, trapping moisture in walls and causing decay.
· And in our experience working all over the world, most citizens are acutely aware of the high monetary costs associated with using cement.
ECO-TEC has proven that a cement/soil mixture using local soil with high clay content offsets the use of too much cement.
Another inferior traditional building method? Brick making. Brick making is not just labor intensive and time consuming: the necessary firing of bricks is environmentally hazardous, stripping lands of trees needed to halt erosion and polluting the air with smoke.
ECO-TEC bricks can be made in minutes and require no firing, saving labor and trees. Our bricks have proven stronger and more resilient than normal clay bricks.
Less reliance on cement, no use of traditional clay bricks and the disposal of a waste product – that’s what ECO-TEC delivers.
Please read our section on PET plastic. Those bottles you see on the ground everyday will be here for thousands of years, they are not biodegradable. But the ECO-TEC method turns that into a positive to create lasting structures that will safely serve the community to decades to come.
How safe can a structure built out of plastic be?
In Central America, many of ECO-TEC’s projects have been through two hurricanes and one 7.1 magnitude earthquake. In March of 2011, an ECO-TEC structure underwent testing for earthquake strength at The University of Javariana in Bogota, Colombia. The positive outcome of this test further strengthens the confidence that ECO-TEC structures are indeed earthquake proof and safer than normal brick structures.
