Brick by brick: Transforming an industry in Uruguay
When Eduardo Romero was 40 years old, he was fired from his job as a bricklayer. It was 1992 in the city of Durazno, Uruguay. With his few belongings on his shoulder, Eduardo headed for the north of the country and stopped only when he found work. It was in the city of Tranqueras, and his new source of income came from land, fire and water: Eduardo started making bricks.
Today, five jobs, two ventures, three children and 28 years later, Eduardo is still linked to this unstable industry, which has the double edge of being an easy source of employment for those who need it most, but where people work under the table, without social security or insurance and with their labor rights continuously violated. On top of the pressure on individual workers, the industry has a negative impact on the environment; emissions are high and some brickmakers, lacking other sources of fuel, burn protected species of trees.
“It is a precarious sector,” says Eduardo. “We are always on the edge of town, wearing dirty clothes.”
Reliable statistics on the industry are hard to come by, but estimates suggest that there are some 14,000 families working in 3,500 production units across the country. The informal nature of the work makes for high turnover.
During the brickmaking season, which lasts from September to April, an artisanal producer can make an average of about 30,000 bricks per month; the entire sector in Uruguay yields enough bricks every year to build at least 1,500 new houses, plus hundreds of businesses, kilns, factories, and more.
Eduardo is one of a growing number of artisanal producers who are changing the way they make bricks and, in the process, helping the entire country enjoy a cleaner environment. But in a sector like this, changing traditions is difficult.
From mud and garbage to a brick wall
“In the process of making bricks you go through ups and downs: good times when you produce and sell, and bad times when you produce but sell nothing,” says Eduardo, who was president of the National Brick Movement for more than ten years and has known the sector “my whole life.”
Good sales or bad, there is always production: making bricks is an art that requires several stages.
First the elements are obtained to make the raw material: water, soil, clay, sand, and organic matter such as horse manure.
This material is mixed and put into molds.
Then, the brickmaker turns the molds over onto a so-called “court”: a flat, clean space where the bricks are left to dry.
The bricks remain for three days absorbing “good sun.” This is when they lose 90% of their moisture.
The bricks are then ready to be baked, with firewood serving as the main fuel. The oven itself is made out of bricks, in a pyramid, leaving holes underneath to keep placing firewood. Baking lasts between two and seven days, and temperatures reach up to 1000° C (1832° F). The bricks are now solid.
At that point the oven is turned off and the bricks are allowed to cool. Four days later they are ready for sale.
At each stage of the process, there are abundant occupational hazards and environmental impacts.
The cost of being behind the times
“The artisanal brick industry is far behind in technological terms,” says Pablo Montes of the Uruguayan government.
To illustrate, he makes a comparison. A mechanized factory in the officially recognized brickmaking industry can churn out bricks almost seven times faster than an artisanal producer. More artisans might join the formal industry were it not for the fact that, being mechanized, it has fewer job opportunities; it also requires certification that most artisans don’t have, whether for the expense or because many have not finished primary school and can barely read or write.
Still, Montes is in a position to help advance the artisanal sector. He is the national coordinator of PAGE Uruguay (Partnership for Action on Green Economy), an initiative that brings together five UN entities, six ministries and other government agencies. This megaproject seeks to formalize the industry in Uruguay, so that artisanal brickmakers can enjoy greater rights and higher incomes, all with a cleaner production process.
To achieve this, PAGE talked with makers from all over the country. Their production process was analyzed and improvements were identified at all stages, including everything from the type of raw material to the baking techniques. Consultants from other countries—such as Colombia, which has already undergone its own transformation—are circulating in Uruguay, giving workshops on how to make better bricks.
Currently a traditional brickmaker must discard 40% of his or her production due to failures that cause the bricks to break. The new techniques will reduce that loss to less than 5%.
By promoting this change and others, PAGE is helping move Uruguay closer to the twin goals of a greener and more prosperous economy. The project is still in progress, and is developing even better methods and training more brickmakers.
No easy task
“Transforming the industry will allow these ventures to be successful,” says Eduardo. Still, he has no illusions that such a change will be easy to achieve.
“In this profession, there are men and women who have made an honest living for decades or for their whole lives,” he explains. Artisanal brickmaking is a way of life, a tradition. Countless homes and businesses in every part of Uruguay have been built with bricks made by the hands of anonymous laborers. They have invested their lives in the profession, and they are proud of what they have created.
“That is what we are trying to defend,” says Eduardo. Even as he changes his own way of working, with guidance from PAGE, he realizes that not everyone will be so quick to adapt. Some may be skeptical of outsiders who come to teach them a skill they’ve practiced for many years.
Pablo Montes of PAGE is optimistic that brickmakers will be won over by the benefits that the new ways of working offer them. “We want to keep the industry artisanal, while making it safer and greener,” he says. “We can have both.”
PAGE is a project of the International Labour Organization, UN Development Programme, UN Environment Programme, UN Industrial Development Organization (coordinating agency for PAGE Uruguay) and the UN Institute for Training and Research, together with the government.
Produced by UN Uruguay. Written by José Antonio Peralta. To learn more about the work taking place in Uruguay, visit their website at https://uruguay.un.org/.