Green Antz Builders

By: Jerome Alan Mejarito

Green Antz is not an ordinary company in the construction industry. More than improving the access to shelters and classrooms for communities, the mission of Green Antz is to create green sustainability initiatives while alleviating poverty. To ensure the sustainability of their mission, creating environmentally responsible communities is also inculcated in the process. Green Antz was founded by Rommel Benig, former Industrial Services Head for Nestle Philippines. Having been inspired his previous work with Nestle, Rommel adopted the creating shared value business model during as soon as Green Antz was founded, one of the first cases of a business in the Philippines adopting this model during its founding.

       

It integrates eco-friendly practices and green technologies, which results in innovative products and services for building and housing solutions. In 2012, it was a mere advocacy that focused on converting plastic wastes to construction products, until it gradually developed to the kind of company that it is right now--a company which promotes practices and technologies that protect the environment. It mainly perceives residual wastes as a valuable resource that can be converted to green products so as to be utilized by the wider community. Part of Green Antz’s operations is the creation of partnerships with responsible local communities to obtain wastes that can be used for innovating products.

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Its flagship product are the eco-bricks which are composed of wet cement and shredded plastic laminates (sachets). The sachets are obtained from industrial and commercial wastes. When turned into bricks, these are found out to increase the thermal insulating property of the brick. A single eco-brick requires 100 pieces of sachets. Their eco-bricks have different variants to serve different purposes. For instance, the Pervious Paver Eco-Brick is innovated for rainwater recovery in open spaces. It has been an ideal alternative to standard cement bricks. One piece of of Pervious Paver can absorb 1 liter of flood water within 8-10 seconds. Partnered local communities are vital to the process because residual wastes are collected by locals themselves that are to be handed over to Green Antz. In return, they are incentivized by being provided with eco bricks for free. Green Antz also provides the equipment to produce their bricks, allowing communities to recycle their waste and help in the production of eco-bricks Clearly, Green Antz is proving that providing durable and sustainable buildings and shelters come hand in hand with creating environment-friendly communities.

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By partnering with communities, Green Antz is able to further their advocacy while benefitting the communities at the same time. Through their Brick Project, Green Antz sets up hubs in partner communities around the country to manage operations within the area. Partner communities are provided with opportunities for work through the use of their machines while their waste production is significantly reduced. The community is further provided with bricks to use for building classrooms and homes. In return, the community is able to provide Green Antz with the eco-bricks for distribution, and having hubs spread out across the country allows Green Antz to produce and deliver bricks efficiently to buyers.

 

More information about Green Antz and its products can be found on their website at http://greenantzbuilders.com .