Eighty eco-bricks to celebrate 80 years
Esmeé Kerdachi celebrated her 80th birthday by donating 80 eco-bricks to her church.
Esmeé Kerdachi from New Redruth, who has been living in Alberton since 1965, celebrated her 80th birthday in an unconventional fashion.
Rather than just receiving gifts, she decided to give back in the form of eco-bricks she made herself.
She made not one or two, but 80 of these eco-friendly building blocks to celebrate her 80 years.
“At the start of October I had made 70 bricks,” said Esmeé, explaining that her church, the Saint Therese Catholic Church, had been making the bricks since January.
“My family then said why don’t you just make 80 to celebrate.”
Eco-bricks are made by taking a 2-litre bottle, filling it with non-recyclable plastic and then stamping it down, with the goal being to have a bottle that weighs at least 500g.
“If you have a lot of time like I do, you can make two of them a day as long as you have the plastic,” said Esmeé.
Esmeé only started making her bottles in July. She was helped by people in her complex and family and friends who gave her their waste plastic to add to her eco-bricks.
“I enjoying sitting in the evening watching television and stamping the plastic into the bottles with a wooden spoon.”
The week before her birthday Esmeé was helped by a young man from her church to transport the bottles to the church.
“As you can imagine, carrying 80 bottles is quite hard,” she said.
Since then Esmeé hasn’t slowed down and has already made 16 more eco-bricks, eight for her grandson and eight for another little girl.
She is positive that next year she will complete another large batch of eco-bricks.
Aside from her eco-brick hobby, Esmeé likes to sing and is part of two other church groups.
She is also a member of the church’s bereavement group and helping other people lies close to her heart.
Esmeé said that saving the environment was a major factor in her decision to make the eco-bricks.
“Imagine if everyone made an eco-brick per week how much less plastic would be in the waste bins,” said Esmeé.
Did you know?
Eco-bricks are a green alternative to other building materials with several uses.The eco-bricks are used by community projects to construct modular furniture, fencing and walls and even full houses, with the eco-bricks replacing normal bricks.
A correctly packed eco-brick can hold the weight of a person on its own without losing its shape.
