World Challenge 09

ROOFTOP REVOLUTION
Resin-Bonded Rooftiles - Ukraine

A new method of recycling plastic waste in Ukraine for indestructible roof tiles.

Eastern Ukraine was a steel, coal and arms manufacturing centre for the former Soviet Union. One by one the factories have closed down. But here as in other parts of the former USSR, a new class of rich is emerging, and they want to build big homes that need a lot of roof tiles. The existing housing stock, meanwhile, is badly in need of refurbishment, since many houses are currently roofed with crumbling sheets of deadly asbestos. A pair of businessmen – Robert Tyldesley and Igor Cedric – have recently come up with a way to solve Ukraine’s roofing problem. Their joint venture company, Britanica JV, is easing the pressure on landfill sites by making roof-tiles from recycled plastic. Coming up with the idea was the easy part. The real challenge was developing the manufacturing process. Mixed waste plastic is extremely difficult to recycle, since different plastics melt at different temperatures. But Cedric and Tyldesley were not put off by the conventional wisdom. They assembled a team of underemployed ex-military engineers and set them to work. Within a year, the researchers had hit upon the ‘philosopher’s stone’ of recycling: a method for successfully producing large quantities of good quality plastic from mixed plastic waste. The product has proved ideal for making roof tiles: strong, light, durable and fully waterproof. The tiles are already being used throughout Ukraine. In the UK Marley Building Materials is impressed with the product and will be a big importer when they get building regulation approval.

What are they doing now

World Challenge visited the Ukraine in 2005 to report on a recycling revolution taking place at Britanica JV. Founded by business partners Robert Tyldesley and Igor Cedric, the company had developed an ingenious method for turning waste plastics into roof tiles. Using a crack team of highly skilled ex-military engineers the group had found a market niche and was turning a tidy profit.

We spoke to Robert Tyldesley recently about how things have gone over the past four years and the news was good. Tile production continues, though the main focus of the business has expanded to include the manufacture of equipment. Meanwhile it seems the rooftop revolution is spreading – thanks in part to World Challenge publicity, the idea has been replicated in a number of African countries as well as in Eastern Europe and the former USSR.

Britanica JV has encouraged this replication, providing equipment and technical expertise for local entrepreneurs to start manufacturing roof tiles and other construction products from recycled plastics. As Robert explains, “Nigeria and other African countries have a pressing need to replace cement-based construction products with alternatives which can be made from locally sourced materials”.

In fact the stories from Robert’s business travels around Nigeria sometimes read like a modern adventure book. Two years ago he was awarded an MBE for his services to waste management, something he gallantly suggests “may well have been related to broadcast of the World Challenge entry.”

For more info see http://www.lugabrit.com.ua/en/index.php