Build with 100% recycled plastic
Since the plastic boom began in the 1950s, we have not stopped creating all kinds of gadgets and objects. If we look at the numbers today, the estimate is around 9 Billion tons of plastic worldwide, of which only 9% is recycled!
Obviously, we are facing one of the most important environmental problems in the world. Of course, with advances in technology, we are seeing interesting proposals to reduce its use: use it for roads, recycle plastic at home (See article on how to create a machine to recycle plastic) or replace it with other more sustainable materials. But even so, we still have thousands of tons circulating around the world.>
The construction with recycled plastic elements It is not a novelty, nor when we talk about plastic architecture, but it has always been considered from a not very industrialized perspective, when we talk about building houses in its entirety.
This is where an ambitious project supported by the UN Habitat and with two important actors comes in: the technology company Othalo and the architecture studio JDS architects. The idea Create hundreds of homes with 100% recycled plastic from an industrial perspective! Given the significant housing deficit in Africa.
Prefab home construction has many advantages; from detailed control over materials and costs, greater control over safety or savings in construction and execution times. High benefits that translate mainly into being able to build cheaper homes. And UN Habitat knows it!
Next year, in Kenya, build the first prefabricated house building factory using recycled plastic; from partitions to walls, ceilings, roofs and floors.
UN Habitat to build the first prefabricated house construction factory using 100% recycled plastic
After successful testing in the laboratory of the Othalo factory in Estonia. Production of components has started to build three demonstration houses for the city of Nairobi (Kenya), Yaoundé (Cameroon) and Dakar (Senegal).
For the construction of prefabricated elements; The plastic waste is shredded and mixed with other compounds in the area where the factory is located, always including non-flammable materials, and will be used to produce architectural components that will form the construction, such as walls, floors and ceilings. Of course, renewable energies also have a place in the project.
The designs have been calculated to build houses of up to four floors and houses with a maximum of 60 square meters. To build the largest ones, 8 tons of recycled plastic will be needed. An important impact on the sustainable circular economy of areas, where recycling is not presented as a priority.
Not only have the different types of homes that can be prefabricated been designed and calculated, also, from their placement together to create small urban fonas to the design of the factory that will produce around 2,800 units of houses per year.
In the following diagram you can see the different typologies designed; from a traditional house, to a bookstore, shops, schools, markets, etc.
This project can have a significant impact by changing the rules of accessibility to a "decent" home, taking into account that, in Africa, the immediate need for low-cost housing is 160 million units.
It has been estimated that around 60% of the people of Africa live in urban areas located in really poor settlementss. At the same time, between 1990 and 2022, African countries imported around 230 metric tons of plastic, most of which ended up in landfills, posing a huge environmental challenge.
According to Vincent Kitio, responsible for several development projects planned in Africa through UN Habitat … "There is only one technology in the world today that can do anything real about Africa's poor housing and plastic waste problem, and it is the one that underpins the Othalo technology company.".
In our blog we have already spoken many times that promoting quality, sustainable and affordable housing for all can be a great challenge, but the technology and the materials we have! We only lack the will, from the street citizen, to the highest institution.
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