Plastic that has been properly packed into an ecobrick is effectively secured from the main forms of degradation. Ecobricks can be further put to use using cradle-to-cradle building technqiue that further ensure the plastic is indefinitely safe and secure.  In this way, ecobricking provides the tremendously valuable service of  ensuring that plastic does not break down into microplastic, toxins or greenhouse gases in the environment.

Ecobricks enable the revolutionary quantification and commodification of this value.  The GEA has created a token, known as a brikcoin (BRK / ß ) to represent the  value of of ecobricked plastic. Unlike traditional recycling, which values only the material value of plastic, Brikcoins are based on the value of removing and securing plastic from the biosphere– what we can the sequestration of plastic.

Brikcoins are generated on the GoBrik app platform as ecobricks are logged and authenticated through the work of our community of ecobrickers. Brikcoins are generated on the GoBrik platform when through a process of peer-review, our community authenticates the data of a logged ecobrick, confirming that a specific amount of plastic has been properly secured.

The first part of the generation process is the making of an ecobrick. This time-consuming, labor-intensive process packs plastic tight into a bottle. Once complete, ecobrickers log their ecobrick on the GoBrik platform.  A serial number is given by the system and the ecobrickers enscribes this permanently on the ecobrick. A photo of the ecobrick with the serial number is taken and the logging completed.

The logged ecobrick is then automatically queued for review.

The GEA has defined standards for a properly made ecobrick. When a packed bottle meets these standards, it is considered an acceptable ecobrick. The second part of the process involves the work of the ecobricker community to ensure that each logged ecobrick does in fact meet the minimum standards of a good ecobrick. Any user on the system can review and validate ecobricks in the queue. Three independent validators review the ecobrick’s photographic data to make sure that the ecobrick is made properly, meets GEA standards and is legitimate by answering a series of questions. An algorithm calculates a validation score based on the review. The three validation scores are averaged and if the average exceeds the minimum threshold, the ecobrick is authenticated. Brikcoins are then generated and issued to the validators and the GoBrik Central Reserve based on the weight of the ecobrick.

The amount of Brikcoins generated depends on the weight of the authenticated ecobrick multiplied by the set plastic standard: 100g of ecobricker plastic = 1ß. This is an arbitrary preset standard on GoBrik. For example, a 0.3 kg ecobrick will generate 3 BRK, while a 0.4 kg ecobrick will generate 4 BRK.

It is important to note that only active ecobrickers can take part in the authentication process.  This is assured by a system of validation credits. Validation credits are earned when a user’s ecobrick is authenticated.  Each validation that a user makes requires one validation credit. Without validation credits (i.e. without logging good ecobricks) the ecobricker quickly depletes their validation credits.

It is important to note that the maker of the ecobrick does not receive Brikcoins when the authentication of the ecobrick is successful. In this way the Brikcoin value of the ecobrick is decoupled from the generation of Brikcoins.

Brikcoins that accumulate in the GoBrik Central Reserve will be used by the GEA in our upcoming Genesis Sale, the details of which will be covered in our forthcoming Brikcoin White Paper and Terms of Sale.  Brikcoins sold for fiat currency in this sale will be used to cover expanses and pay our core team as per our Earth Enterprise Intention Map.

The Brikcoin system is 100% transparent and verifiable. The balance of every ecobricker on the system is publicly available and all transactions are logged and posted. Every Brikcoin that is generated on the system is logged in a chain of block transactions. This log is human searchable and legible using our platform’s BrikChain Explorer.  Anyone can view, search and filter the entire chain here at any time

You can view, search and filter the entire chain here at any time.

We live in the petroleum age. There is no way around plastic — that which has been created and that which is on its way. Fundamental to the pollution crisis is the etymological judgment of used plastic as ‘waste’. Were plastic seen as gold, it would not be discarded and allowed loose in the biosphere. Using sequestered plastic as a ‘gold standard’ for the basis of the Brikcoin currency enables just this – the blanket and universal valuation of plastic. By defining plastic sequestration uniquely to manual, human-powered and universally accessible ecobricking (in which no fiat currency and no petroleum power are required) we envision a leap in our planetary transition from petroleum, the detrimental biases of fiat capital and plastic.

We envision Brikcoins as a catalyst to deep local and global plastic transition. We envision Brikcoins as a complimentary medium of exchange, ideal for supporting, encouraging and igniting the spread of regenerative ideas and technologies that assist our return to an ever greener harmony with the cycles of life.

We envision that the GoBrik and Brikcoin platform will remove millions of tons of plastic from the biosphere. We see this as an inevitable consequence of incentivizing the valuing of plastic that will ignite a collective mobilization to sequester both freshly consumed plastic and plastics already in the biosphere. In so doing, we believe removing this potentially poisonous plastic from the biosphere will prevent untold harm to and suffering of, humans and our fellow species for the next thousand years.