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Two women entrepreneurs turn hard-to-recycle food packaging into paving bricks in Indonesia

JAKARTA: At first glance, the 1,000 sq m property situated on a bustling Jakarta street looked like a regular brick making factory.

There were stacks of paving bricks of varying colours, sizes and shapes – hexagonal, octagonal and rectangular – sitting on its front yard, ready to be shipped.

Its car park showcased the factory’s best products, intricately placed to demonstrate the many possible interlocking patterns and arrangements.

Inside the open-air factory, shaded by a metal sheet roof suspended 10 m up in the air, were large concrete mixers and brick-making hydraulic presses.

But what makes Rebricks factory different is the mountain of domestic waste at one section of the property and the sacks of finely shredded plastics in another corner.