Baguio turns styrofoam and plastic wastes into tiles

The Baguio city government has succeeded in its initial tests on using a special machine which would turn the tons of styrofoam and plastic garbage into saleable plastic tiles.
Engineer Nazita Banez of the City Environment and Parks Management (CEPMO) office said that the machine which "cook" the wastes was developed in recent years by the National Science and Technology Authority (NSTA).
The forthcoming plastic tile production will be at the controlled waste facility of the city at its former dumpsite in Barangay Irisan.
"We bought recently the smelting machine which includes a shredder at a cost of Php450,000. It makes use of washed plastic and styrofoam. The melted waste plus ordinary used oil are then placed into molders to allow it to cool. This way, we can deal with several tons of plastic bags and styro materials dumped by our almost half-a-million residents and visitors daily. It could even provide livelihood to the former waste pickers in our closed dumpsite," she explained.
The tiles will soon be sold at commercial scale for building contractors as well as those in the landscaping industry.
Story courtesy of PNA and GNP.