Upcycling plastic waste to construct homes
Up-cycle Africa constructs homes out of plastic waste while providing capacity building and entrepreneurship in green business.
Overview of the project
Our aim is to transform the waste crisis in Africa into employment opportunities for marginalized groups through creative skills training. Up-cycle Africa protects the environment and promotes an innovative mindset while empowering the youth. Through up-cycling plastic bottles, we train our local communities (especially the disadvantaged youth) to protect the environment. We use the bottles to construct, replacing environmentally damaging bricks (which are burnt for days posing a risk for deforestation). Bottles are collected and compacted with soil, making the houses very cost-effective and affordable. Furthermore, the buildings are strong, buffer heat, and are earthquake resistant.
We transform the waste crisis in Africa into employment opportunities for marginalized groups of people while training them in the skills of turning plastic waste into products of inherent value.
implementation
project still in progress
- Educating: we have educated an estimated 20,800 students in 52 different schools on dangers of plastic waste and practical solutions.
- Waste picker’s programme: the team has recovered over 3,000,000 plastic bottles.
- Waste compaction, whereby after categorization, plastic is used in construction of Upcycle’s buildings or sold to recycling companies. As a result, over 100 tons of plastic has been sustainably repurposed.
Construction of buildings with upcycled waste, which reduces the damage to the environment and allows for affordable housing.
organisation
Upcycle Africa is a social enterprise that focuses on environmental restoration, protection, and improvement in the lives of marginalized groups of people through education and collection of waste. We also do zero waste campaigns in order to change people’s mindset on the way they think and dispose of plastic waste. On the other side, we also connect recycling companies to waste collectors hence improving their employability. With our team, we train communities on the way they can turn plastic waste into products of inherent value. We construct homes out of plastic waste while promoting capacity building and entrepreneurship in green businesses.