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Entrepreneurs build houses in 5 days with interlocking bricks made from recycled plastic
🇦🇷 Argentina /Environment & Climate

Entrepreneurs build houses in 5 days with interlocking bricks made from recycled plastic

From La Nación · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Sources not specified Context piece
  • Colombian entrepreneurs Oscar Andrés Méndez and Isabel Cristina Gámez developed a system to build houses using recycled plastic.
  • Their company, Conceptos Plásticos, transforms plastic waste into interlocking bricks, similar to Lego, enabling rapid construction.
  • A typical two-bedroom house uses about six tons of plastic and can be built in five days for $4,000-$7,000, offering a sustainable and affordable housing solution.

In response to the global crises of housing shortages and environmental pollution, Colombian entrepreneurs have developed an innovative solution: constructing houses from recycled plastic. Architect Oscar Andrés Méndez and electronic engineer Isabel Cristina Gámez founded Conceptos Plásticos in Bogotá in 2010 with the premise of tackling both issues simultaneously.

The company converts recycled plastic into bricks.

— Conceptos PlásticosDescribing the company's core activity.

Their company transforms post-consumer and industrial plastic waste, such as bags, food containers, and shampoo bottles, into building blocks. These bricks, made of approximately 95% plastic, interlock like Lego pieces, allowing for significantly faster construction times. A standard two-bedroom house, complete with a bathroom, living area, dining space, and kitchen, requires about six tons of plastic. The entire structure can be assembled in roughly five days.

The cost of these eco-friendly homes ranges between $4,000 and $7,000, making them considerably more affordable than traditional construction methods. The process involves melting and molding the collected plastic into blocks that weigh about three kilograms each, comparable to traditional bricks. Beyond their environmental benefits and speed of assembly, these structures are designed to be earthquake-resistant, fireproof, and well-insulated.

The bricks interlock like Lego.

— Conceptos PlásticosHighlighting the ease of assembly for the recycled plastic bricks.

Conceptos Plásticos has already built over 50 homes and schools in Colombia, collaborating with private companies and a non-governmental organization. The innovation gained international attention when Aboubacar Kampo, a UNICEF representative in Ivory Coast, contacted the founders in 2017. He sought their expertise to address the urgent problem of plastic waste clogging drainage systems and contributing to diseases like malaria, while also noting the deterioration of rural schools built with adobe in rainy conditions. The company's potential to provide durable, sustainable, and affordable housing solutions is being explored in various regions facing similar challenges.

Each building should last more than 200 years.

— Oscar Andrés MéndezMéndez discussing the durability of structures built with their system.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by La Nación in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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