7 News Belize

A Look at Light Manufacturing in Belize
posted (March 8, 2019)

Belize is a net importer, everything from mineral water bottled in Italy to cheese from Holland.  But, one company is pushing against that trend of importing everything.  Belize polystructure limited has forged into producing construction materials from styrofoam.  We found out more about their operations at mile five and half on the Western highway today:

It looks like a bottle of sugar, but these little beads are actually the basic building block of these huge Styrofoam panels.

They are churned and expanded in this unit and at the end of the process come out looking like this, blocks as big as monoliths which are then precisely sliced into panels that are the basic building blocks of polystyrene construction."

Tessa Matus - Director Polystructure
"The filler blocks are used with the standard t beams which is very popular out in San Pedro resorts, tourism investors like to use it because it's a rapid system of construction, so labor cost is usually cheaper. You have thermal and acoustic benefits and most importantly, the people like to know that when you hear foam, oh my house if going to blow down but not so. All over the world, especially in Latin America and our neighbor Cancun, builds with EPS.

It’s a technique that’s been around for decades but what’s really catching on in Belize now is this which is the same polystyrene or Styrofoam panels melded with where heavy gauge wire in this spot welding process - where the wire is welded through and through the foam:

Tessa Matus
"We're showcasing today a new product which is the panel, it's a structural wall, roofing system panel that's just gaining leverage into the construction market in Belize and again, it's nothing new - new to Belize but it's well used all over again in Latin America and even in Europe and in the United States."

Nicholas Martin - Founder, Polystucture
"The idea is use the panel to shape up whatever form you want to achieve and you plaster the outside and inside with an inch and a half of mortar mix and then you have a shape that is now a concrete shape insulated."

But, this stuff can be bought at hardware stores imported from Mexico - probably cheaper.  But these locals say their product can stand up to the regional competition.

Tessa Matus
"We feel that our panel is a far superior panel. Several contractors have worked with it and they like it is a uniform foam that's encases by the 14 case galvanized wire."

Nicholas Martin
"We are very confident in the quality of we product compared to what is imported. As I mentioned earlier, you take 2 panels and you look at them closely, one imported and one of our panels. Unless you're from the industry yourself, you won't tell the difference. The thickness of the steel is the same, the foam will be superior in our case because it's denser but in terms of the end finish product, it's a wall, the characteristics in terms of wind load and so forth will be the same."

They’ve just launched this product - and the investment alone takes certain courage in a market that always chooses to import first

Nicholas Martin
"We feel that we're contributing to the Belizean economy as we should and again we also believe that manufacturing is a plus for our country, instead of importing, we're manufacturing. Not many manufacturers are present in the country."

Tessa Matus
"What I hope is that eventually we can soon have an export ready product so that we can - our machine has the capacity to produce the volume of foam, so we hope to eventually export this product but for now, every Belizean should build with our locally made panels."

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7 News Belize