According to data by the NCAES, by 2025, estimates are that there will be at least 100 bags of plastic per a foot of coastline in the world.
Sadly, plastic waste kills around 100,000 marine mammals every year, as well as millions of fish and birds.
In the effort to drop down plastic pollution, Nigeria’s jobless youth is employed as part of an innovative housing solution project. They’re using recycled plastic to build eco-friendly homes.
Instead of cement bricks, these homes feature earth-filled bottles. And, they claim they’re much stronger!
The Nigerian Eco-Friendly Homes
The plastic bottles are being repurposed as bricks and are connected to each other with ropes.
This helps keep them together and also avert cracks in the building, but also adds to their color and beauty.
Moreover, the bottles are filled with a mud blend of sharp and laterite.
For some experts, a house built of bottles is economical and durable solution, with every structure estimated to cost 1/3 of what another house of concrete usually does.
Houses Built of Plastic Have Other Advantages too
According to engineer and projects coordinator at the Developmental Association of Renewable Energies, Abuja Sani, plastic houses transmit far less heat and may actually never need to be artificially cooled with ACs.
Considering the unemployment rate of Nigeria reaching an all-time high of 23.1 percent in 2018, the Association is hopeful they’ll teach the Nigerian youth valuable skills and make them worthy for the job market.
What’s more, locals have become quite appreciative of the importance of reusing plastic bottles considering the harm plastic waste does on our planet and eco-systems.
Unfortunately, in Nigeria, millions of plastic bottles are thrown into waterways and landfills on a yearly basis and cause pollution, irrigation blockages, erosion, and health issues.
However, the Yahaya Almed’s Developmental Association of Renewable Energies is trying to change this and working to reuse plastic bottles as the building blocks of sustainable homes.
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