School of Engineering News
Second year students win first prize in Engineers without Borders Engineering for People Design Challenge
Congratulations to Lara Fernandes, Enzo Lim and Hamed Khan who won first prize in the Engineers without Borders Grand Finals of the Engineering for People Design Challenge.
Project Title: BrikCycle
Team Members: Lara Fernandes, Enzo Lim, Hamed Khan
Module Lead: Dr Modupe Jimoh
The process this year involved over 10000 students attempting the design challenge. This is then reduced to five teams per university for review by the judges, out of which 36 teams are invited to make pitches at the final event. Our students excelled among all the groups in both the quality of their designs and their pitches, especially with their focus on all the 3 pillars of sustainability.
The Design
Design area: Waste
Proposal description: BrikCycle transforms hard-to-recycle plastic waste into durable, interlocking bricks for affordable housing. BrikCycle is low-tech and designed for ease of use and minimal environmental impact, perfect for the community of Maker's Valley.
Summary: Plastic waste is a growing problem, especially in underserved communities with limited recycling infrastructure such as in Maker's Valley. BrikCycle repurposes plastic into construction bricks using simple, scalable methods. Our solution addresses both waste management and the housing crisis through a sustainable, community-driven approach. We found the existing schemes for waste recycling in Maker's Valley such as 'Love our City Klean' and 'PikitUP' don't scale well and provide high value.
Key design highlights: BrikCycle is modular and interlocking, eliminating the need for mortar used in traditional bricklaying. The hollow design improves insulation and reduces material usage. We use extrusion and compression moulding to process ALL types of household waste by heating it up . BrikCycle prioritises simplicity and accessibility, making it possible to manufacture and assemble the bricks using locally sourced waste and local manufacturing plants. We hope to collaborate with small businesses to stimulate the local economy such as Zhauns who can carry out pilot testing and help scale up production.
Cost explanation: We’re aiming for initial funding from environmental charities, such as GreenCape. The initial costs will be setting up the manufacturing line which includes a furnace, moulding and batching areas as well as employing residents to collect waste.
Wider considerations: BrikCycle is an exciting opportunity for the people of Maker's Valley as we can employ residents of the community to collect waste and bring it to the manufacturing plant which gives them a stable income. In the long term, we hope to establish long term relationships and contracts with local manufacturers such as Zhauns to generate stable employment and income which is a benefit over schemes such as 'PikItUp'. Providing paid jobs will also help to stimulate the local economy of Maker's Valley which will boost other parts of the community such as healthcare and education. BrikCycle makes use of otherwise unrecyclable plastics, which reduces overall plastic waste on the streets of Maker's Valley; however, the process is energy-intensive.
Project submitted: University of Warwick - BrikCycle - Design Video
About the challenge: Engineering for People Design Challenge - Engineers Without Borders UK