Wow! These Nigerian builders are flying the flag of eco-friendly homes with their amazing buildings constructed with mud and recycled plastic bottles!
As well as being bulletproof and fireproof, they are also earthquake proof, zero carbon emissions and run on solar energy and energy derived from waste!
Whilst the idea is great, the cause is quite sad. A population boom and subsequent housing shortage in Nigeria has forced millions to live homeless and in poverty. Two NGOs suggested using the massive amount of plastic waste in Nigeria to built recycled plastic homes, and the idea really has legs! It would be far too expensive to use traditional building materials, but as well as being cost saving, the recycled plastic bottle element is just one reason that it is making environmental savings too!
The two NGOs behind this immensely cool project are Kaduna based, Development Association for Renewable Energies (DARE) and London based, Africa Community Trust.
The plastic bottles are filled with sand and then bound together with mud and cement, and can be built up to three stories tall, creating beautiful homes with a diversity of bottle colours. A two bedroom house may require around 14,000 recycled plastic bottles, which is nothing when we consider how many bottles we use each day globally! In Nigeria alone, it’s estimated that 3 million bottles are discarded daily!
If Nigeria was to collect these 3 million bottles they could build more than 200 homes a day, at a yearly total of around 78,000. Of course, that’s just the recycled plastic requirement, of course it doesn’t account for other materials and of course building time and manpower.
Do you think these homes are a wonderful solution to multiple problems? Tweet us @PlasticExpertUK
