Originally posted at Secular Change on Apr. 13, 2006Think that all those garbage lying around are worthless? Well here's two Filipino-Canadians who turned waste into money.
Rafael Diego and Julio Macaraig found an innovative way to use sawdust and other waste fibers into a new product. They set up a company called
JER Envirotech (JER.V) where they recycle waste plastics and sawdust, combine it in a patented process and out comes a new material with the properties of both plastics and wood. This compound is called Wood-Plastic Composites or WPC.
The new materials can be molded into various shapes just like plastics, but has the look of natural wood. Currently, their main products are panel boards which can be used as an alternative to ply-wood. This panel board is well suited for tropical countries such as the Philippines since it is resistant to moisture, termites and highly fire resistant. It also doesn't fade, warp or shrink.
The best thing about these panel boards is that it requires no special skills to use. They can be sawed, nailed, drilled and shaped just like regular ply-wood. It doesn't break when dropped and requires no special handling or care. It can be painted with any regular water-based wood paint; It can even be glued with regular wood glue. You can even join two pieces together by using a heating plate used to attach two plastic pipes. Best of all, there's no splinters and the unused portions can be recyled to make new panel boards!
They also produce WPC pellets where it can be molded into various shapes just like regular PVC or PP plastics. The majority of the WPC products are for home building uses like roof tiles, wood sidings for the exterior walls, decks and two by fours. It is light-weigth and has good sound insulating properties.JER has set up a joint venture with a Filipino plastic company and is currently in the process of setting up a factory in the Philippines. They are currently is setting up factories in Malaysia, India and China as well. Considering this company started only in 1997, the growth has been tremendous.
In Canada, they use pine sawdust as this is an abundant waste product in Canada. In the Philippines, they decided to use local materials instead of importing the pine sawdust to help the local economy.
They have developed a way to use rice husk instead of sawdust as the fiber ingredient. They have set up a cooperative of local farmers to supply them with the rice husk. They have also develop ways to use banana fiber and palm fiber waste to use as an alternative.
Mr. Diego who is from Isabela has a deep sense of love for his fellow Filipinos and have set up JER to partner with Gawad Kalinga (Provide Care) in helping to reduce poverty by donating 50 houses made of JER Panel Boards to GK Luzon.
For more information, visit their website at
http://www.jerenvirotech.com
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