SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT EXPLOITING RUBBLE AND

NONPERISHABLE WASTE AFTER EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE

Eco-park home Zamorano

Tegucigalpa, Honduras (2002).

Retaining wall Río Cauca

Calí, Colombia(2008).

Reserve water tank

Calí, Colombia (2008).
 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
local strategies for the reuse and
transformation of the large quantities of post-
disaster rubble often results in negative
environmental and social impacts and
inadequate final disposal of the material.
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- Transform rubble into
TEC housing construction process allows contribution from material for construction
structural engineers in the design of earthquake-resistant buildings La Calera, Colombia (2009).
and the technical implementation of the construction system.

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

 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, House of faith.Project
solidarity, team work, and prosperous with and for disabled
enterprises based on ethical and people.
Honduras (2003).
ecological criteria.

RESERVE WATER
TANKS

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

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

Community training, NGO Trocaire.

23,000 liters.
Southern Honduras (2004).
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
Development Commission. CCAD (Comisión
Centroamericana de Ambiente y Desarrollo).
Diamond school
*Winner in the Technological Innovation Category, Honduras (2004).
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
Park of life
resources, June 2003, granted by the Honduras Ministry Calí, Colombia (2008).
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.

Ecopark House Zamorano

Honduras (2002).

RESERVE WATER
TANK.
Project by disabled
people.
7000 liters
Honduras (2005).
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
belonging. ECO-TEC training in the
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 Froese
Sustainable Architecture
General Manager, ECOTEC
andreasfroese@yahoo.com
Shannon Lee Gilmour Park of life.
Artist Calí, Colombia (2008).
ecotec.usa@gmail.com
Arq. Luis Carlos Gómez Castaño
Biological and Sustainable Architecture
arquinatural@gmail.com
Arq. Ana Maria Gutierrez
Master in Interactive Art and Technology
anamaria@organizmo.org
Norma Riaño Molina
Anthropologist
Conflict Resolution Specialist
ecotecsoluciones@gmail.com

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

Organizmo, Tenjo, Colombia

2009.
http://www.organizmo.org/
reciclaje.html