Problems Addressed
- Inefficiency of recycling; mainly PET plastic bottles: 1,000,000 plastic bottles are bought every 1 minute. 1 of 5 plastic bottles gets recycled, while the rest get wasted in landfills or oceans. Sadly, recycling is not as efficient as we think. So how can we make use of the other 4 bottles rather than wait 700 years for them to decompose?
- High rates of reinforced concrete corrosion in coastal cities: corrosion of steel reinforcement in a concrete building is a familiar scene in almost every building older than 10 years. This problem is not just aesthetic, but actually brutal. A handful piece of concrete falling from the 3rd floor is enough to kill a passerby walking beside the building at the wrong time.
Solution Proposed
PETCRETE team has created a machine that turns a plastic bottle to tiny plastic fibers that replaces steel reinforcement in concrete and lives much longer.
PETCRETE is a sustainable Fiber made from abundant PET plastic to reinforce concrete at a highly competitive cost with a higher durability. The fibers are easy to use, all it takes is to dispose the fibers in the concrete mixing truck for 5 minutes, then the concrete will be ready to be poured or pumped.
Impact
- The Contractor saves on the time and cost needed for workmanship valued approximately 32% of the total cost per cubic meter of concrete (steel rebars need cutting, bending, and steel fixing that are not needed in case of fiber reinforcement)
- The Contractor saves on the material cost since steel reinforcement cost (700$/Ton) will be replaced partially or fully by fibers
- The Environment saves on the carbon footprint resulting from the manufacturing of steel: 1.5 tons of CO2 for every 1 ton of steel
- Last but not least, PET plastic won’t be wasted like before saving the oceans and landfills.
Target market
Concrete Contracting companies are the main clients of Petcrete, but the enduser can be all people; whether driving on streets reinforced by Petcrete fibers, buildings, or even bridges.