Zelij Invent

Zelij Invent is green tech solution that transforms plastic waste into eco-friendly and sustainable paving blocks and traditional floor tiles. Zelij developed an innovative material using 80% of plastic waste and 20% ecofriendly materials to produce construction product and more. 

As a solution to the growing problem of a gloomy future with all of us being smothered by heaps of plastic, Zelij team, devised a way to reuse plastic waste instead of cement to make ‘eco-friendly’ tiles, circumventing the energy-intensive process of plastic recycling.

Zelij is based on cooperation and dialogue with its artisan partners, mainly based in Morocco. Our vision is that of an open and supportive world in which responsible economy is combined with social and environmental progress.

Plastic wastes have become a major global issue, and one that must be addressed in order to solve the world’s resource and energy challenges. Millions of plastic items are improperly disposed of, on a daily basis, creating piles of plastic waste everywhere. This has brought serious damages to local environments around the world in terms of water, air and soil pollution. It blocks drains, pollutes rivers and wreaks havoc on the environment.

Just in Morocco produces more than 550,000 tons of plastic a year, and only 12 percent of that is recycled, which translates into wastage worth $1.2 billion.

Our first pilot poupulation was in "Sebt Zinat" a rural area in the north of Morocco, We've run workshops for targeted unemployed youngs and we have engaged them in the collection part, and to date we've engaged more than 52 young. Also we created an opportunity for this youngs to learn how to recycle plastics using our technology. One of the main isuue of the community is the lack of infrastructure, they don't have access to transportation, schools and more. So using our materials we started a program with local autorities in order to build a road that link the village to the national road. And it will be just the beginning of the program, by 2020 our vision in=s to implement it in more than 10 villages.  

We collect and recycle plastic wastes. For collecting and sorting we do engage local population trought workshops on safety and more, in order not only to create a new jobs for unemployed people of the region but also to sensitize and make them play a good impact in there community. Because we firmily that the collectors are not worker they are free changemaker. And at Zelij Invent our work is to first manage all the first part of the process but our main activity is the transformation part. 

We offer a completly new formula for construction materials that can be used such as cement. The formula is based on 80% of plastic waste and 20% of additives. 

Zelij Invent pride it's self being the first brand that offers an eco-friendly construction materials such as pavers that can be used in all the same ways as regular cement ones in garden, sidewalks, roads and parking but are:

- x3 times harder

- x2 times cheaper to produce

- 100% eco-friendly and Recyclable

- 22% energy saver

- can bear very high weight

All our product have been tested in laboratories and pilot projects to determine our the main features.

We have developed a new construction material based on 80% of plastic waste and 20% of other ecofriendly additives such as sand and others ecofriendly materials. It can bear very high weight (the pavers (size:30x13x6 cm) can bear more than 18000 kg so it can be used also for roads.), are recyclable and can last 3 times more than all alternatives.

Zelij's innovative production method not only replaces cement with plastic waste, it also circumvents the energy-intensive process of recycling plastic.

For processing, we have developed a new machine that mixes the raw materials and mold the past in different shapes. 

Today we are sourcing plastic waste from local organizations and suppliers such as Frezna project and CTRD. Also we are working on our internal sourcing process to be ready by the next months.

For the material development, we are mainly using the chemistry technology to transform plastic waste to construction materials.

For the processing, we are more into developed plastic injection technology that include mixing machine and plastic injection machines.

Till now we have been able to recycle about 2500 KG of plastic waste in one region. The benefit of the solution is that we can recycle big amounts of plastic wastes one time. 

For us, our solution is not only recycling plastic waste but also creating a green community in each implementation region. We are into engaging the community in the process and create value for wastes and show people that wastes are not only a problem but also a solution to their issues.

Today the solution serves about 256 persons, In one year we will be able to serve more than 70000 ones and in five years, our hope is to reach 3 million people impacted directly by our solution.

Our goal by the end of 2020 is to recycle 1 million tons of plastic waste and implement our program of infrastructure implementation in 5 regions in Morocco. Als within the same year we will launch a franchise in the South of Morocco as a pilot franchising unit in order to start on the 2nd the international franchising in order to scale and have an international impact. Because plastic waste is a worldwide issue our solution must be a worldwide innovation too.

Actually, we don't have legal and franchising specialist in the team, and in our scaling strategy we intend to franchise our technology. Also, our social media presence still not measurable we need to have a branding and marketing strategy in order to create an online community.

To overcome barriers we intend to hire Branding Specialist, Marketing excutive and Franchising or related field specialist. 

Also we will look for workshop in this fields in order to have a minimum background about the subject.

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Full-Time: 5

Part-Time: 7

Other: 52

• Saif Eddine Laalej: CEO and co-founder, program manager. With masters in international trade and marketing. Developed multiple products and sold 1 IP, named among 50 Best Young Inventors worldwide by Ericsson and 10 Best Inventors in Morocco by Intel.
• Houda Mirouche: co-founder. With masters in auditing and management control, four years of experience with startups.

Because we believe in team ethics, we combined 5 more skilled members:

We have our business advisor mr Ayham Mkalalati, business developper at Enviromena Dubai.

For wining negociations we have Younes Baddou our Sales Manger, with 13 years experience in the construction sector. And Salma Ziani public relationship manager, with 2 years as PR manager for Begreen a moroccan startup.

For technical part we have Laalej Samah our environemental engineer, with PhD in cleantech. And Benmhalla Younes as the industrial and mechanical engineer, with 6 years experience with big holding in morocco. Also Marouwa Soumiaa, the logistics manager,

What connected us is not only the work on Zelij but also our common passion for social entrepreneurship and the willingness to change the world because we firmly believe that every human being is born to create difference and we want to create ours.

Zelij Invent are partnering with Capgimini Morocco for business development and branding strategy. Lafarge Holcim Maroc and Maghreb Steel for technical and R&D product development. And CTRD and Messem for raw material and plastic sorting and collecting.

We work on a BtoB and BtoG strategy. Our main customers are Promoters and contractors, Architects, Distributors and Government we do sell the product like paving blocks and tiles, also the installement services. 

Our beneficiaries are mainly the local population, we do provide local jobs opportunity for unemployed people and we recycle plastic waste so we do solve a big issue for them that create many other health problems and in order to sustain our impact we do partner with local authority to provide a sustainable and affordable infrastructure to link them to the world.

In the beginning, in order to finance our activity of production and programs we do target grants and donations, using them we will be able to create an industrial plant and once we start the production and commercialisation we will be selling the product to be sustainable. We do charge 9$ per m² of pacing blocks with a 42% of profit margin also we do charge on demand installement depending on the project.

Solve will help us connect with mentors in order to develop our branding strategy, finalize our financial model and learn how we can move to the international market and increase our impact worldwide. Also it's an opportunity for us to join a network of young international changemakers and changedrivers in order to learn from each other experiences to build a better future and solve the world most urgent challenges. 

And through the program we will be able to connect with investors and get exposure to develop and scale our solution and why not connect with potential costumers and partners. 

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VEOLIA: To develop our waste management startegy we need to partner with expert corporate in the field and veolia is one of our targets

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The GM Prize on circular economy will be utilize to implement a production plant in "LAARACHE region" where agriculture greenhouses plastic waste are main region issues and which threatens local agriculture. This will help us increase our impact, production capacity and recycling rate by 62%. This will allow us to create 6 jobs opportunity for local unemployed youngs and recycle more than 100000 Kg of plastic per month in the region. Also it will help us to work on our franchising strategy, first we want to implement a franchise in South Morocco as a pilot franchise and then move it to the international level ( We target Germany, Turkey and France as first step). 

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