Roof tiles made from recycled plastic: cool, chic and eco-friendly
The roof tile manufacturer AMABO in Cameroon processes waste plastic. The Austrian Development Agency is now supporting the recycling initiative with Austrian roots in expanding plastic waste procurement. – Articel from Ursula Weber
“We make Cameroon clean. Get active for a clean and beautiful Cameroon!” With slogans like these, AMABO calls on Cameroonians to collect the ubiquitous plastic waste. AMABO crushes the collected canisters, bags, packaging, components, bottles, cans and many other polyethylene-based products and melts them, mixed with plenty of sand, into an innovative recycling product: roof tiles. These are superior to the common corrugated iron roofs and clay tiles in practically every respect, for example in breaking strength, durability, ecological harmlessness and heat protection. The formula was developed and provided by scientists in South Africa. Sonja Sagmeister, who founded the Austrian-Cameroonian start-up, explains: “For me, the environmental idea is at the heart of what we do. At the same time, every world-improvement project should also produce something productive.”
Sagmeister, who trained as an innovation manager, attributes the fact that four hundred roofs in the West African country are already covered with the brightly coloured sand tiles, that the first exports have taken place and that demand is not abating to the combination of a convincing product and targeted marketing. The latter was skilfully pursued by Austrian IT expert Michael Zankl during the Covid slump via all social media channels in the country and beyond. AMABO is considered cool, chic and eco.
It all started when Sagmeister took a sabbatical year in 2019 and was thinking about travelling the world when a taxi driver in Vienna showed her horrifying photos of mountains of plastic waste in his native Cameroon that stuck with her. Sagmeister accompanies her team in Cameroon from Austria and makes sure that the funds are channelled as intended. “I see myself first and foremost as a compliance manager,” she says, “the correct handling of processes and compliance with all specifications is our insurance.”
Strong partners for AMABO
Sagmeister approached the Austrian Development Agency ADA early on with the basic idea of recycling old plastic into roof tiles. Funding commitments from private foundations and the offer of an ADA economic partnership encouraged her to take off in Cameroon at the end of 2019. They soon found an office in the economic metropolis of Douala and a spacious factory site in Tiko, 50 kilometres away. Today, AMABO produces tiles for around 200 square metres of roof surface per day with 32 exclusively local employees. A favourable loan from the Austrian Development Bank OeEB from the African-Austrian SME Investment Facility (see corporAID article) enabled the purchase of a second production machine and the installation of a solar plant.
The current challenge is to always have enough waste plastic available to utilise the machines, which are designed to process two tonnes per day. “There is no shortage of plastic waste,” Sagmeister explains, “but you can’t buy it somewhere like sand. And cooperations with landfills are difficult. So we have to build our own nationwide plastic collection system.”
Sagmeister enlisted ADA as a financing partner for the expansion of waste collection from April 2023. ADA programme manager Maximilian Zangl explains that “this economic partnership is intended to support a functioning company in Africa in improving its environment, thereby creating new jobs and income opportunities”.
Next steps for AMABO
In preparation for the project, Sagmeister obtained a waste collection licence. And promising preliminary talks were held with the mayors of two cities about setting up waste collection points where the population can hand in used plastics in exchange for money or vouchers. Such points are to be set up throughout the country, and an app is to facilitate trade and exchange. To this end, subcontractors are to be hired, trained and equipped to deliver already shredded plastic. AMABO is also seeking plastic take-off contracts with hotels, big businesses and DIY stores. “We take the material from them, which is otherwise often disposed of in the wild or incinerated,” says Sagmeister. She also expects a lot from awareness-raising measures in the long run. AMABO has already assigned two employees to teach environmental education in schools and plans to expand this.
AMABO’s award as Rising Star at the European Business Awards in the category Environment and Development Aid in 2020 confirmed to Sagmeister that it is on the right track. Currently, active consideration is being given to further expansion of the successful model. Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria are being considered as locations. Sagmeister sighs: “It’s just a hobby, but it has become very intense.”
AMABO – First Class Roof Tiles
AMABO GmbH was founded in 2019 by Sonja Sagmeister with two private foundations as a financing holding company for the African Market And Business Opening AMABO Cameroon Ltd. Today, the business is cost-covering.
Original Articel from Ursula Weber on https://www.corporaid.at/cool-chic-und-oeko