For the people who wonder what happens to their recycled waste, where it goes, who reuses it and for what purpose, the following is a inspiring example of recycling plastic waste.
UNICEF builds recycled plastic classrooms
A Columbian company called Conceptos Plasticos (a for-profit recycling company) in partnership with the United Nations agency for children (UNICEF) have developed a plastic brick made from recyclable plastic. Each Plastic brick is designed to inter-locked with each other a bit like Lego.
To demonstrate the innovation they have built several prototype school classrooms in the city of Abidjan on the Ivory Coast. If the prototype project is successful it could provide a much needed income to waste collectors of poor countries in West Africa. Furthermore it would provide a less expensive method of constructing essential community buildings like school classrooms.
The owners of the Concepto Plastico Oscar Andrés Méndez and his wife Isabel Cristina Gámez are currently planning to move to Abidjan where their new factory is under construction. Once completed it will employ 30 staff and work with more than 1000 pickers who comb the local landfill in Akouedo selling plastics bricks for recycling. Another landfill site in nearby Abobo are already preparing for the factory to open and are storing waste.
Social Demand
Once the factory is built UNICEF intends to buy plastic bricks for construction of more than 530 classrooms needed in Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast).They believe the country will need over 15,000 new classrooms by 2021 and 30,000 by 2025.Out of 300 tones of daily waste in Abidjan only 5% is recycled according to a UNICEF spokesperson. So there will be no shortage of plastic waste that can be recycled in the future.
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