The cost of landfill, in financial and environmental terms is enormous, but just 7% of the plastic we use in the UK is recycled. 30% of the UK’s landfill is made up of plastic waste – but things are changing.
The construction industry has made a start and recycled plastic is now being used in the manufacture of bollards, fascias, decking, synthetic wood, tongue and groove flooring, road surfaces and more. The hardness of plastic waste and its long duration of degradation make it a perfect building material.
The War Against Plastic is gaining momentum, and there are many new initiatives starting across the globe in which we are trying to find different ways to reuse plastic in an eco-friendly way. These include new ways of making tiles, paving stones and other building materials.
Two students at the National School of Management in Tangier, Morocco, Saif Eddine Laalej and Houda Mirouche, were the first to adopt the idea of making floor tiles from plastic waste after being inspired by a television programme.
Laalej said: “I was watching TV when former interior minister, Mohamed Hassad, announced that Morocco has decided to take action to eliminate plastic bags through its campaign ‘Zero Mika’ (Mika means plastic in Morocco).”
The campaign came into effect in early July 2016 with the goal of totally eliminating the manufacture, importation and commercialisation of plastic bags across the country. Laalej said that that was when he “realised that the best solution for disposing of plastic waste is recycling it to produce new materials.”
They believe that this eco-friendly method will not only increase efficiency but also take care of the waste impact across the country and be better for the environment.
Millions of recyclable plastic items are disposed of incorrectly on a daily basis, leading to it finding its way into landfall, which has become a global problem. Finding a way to incorporate plastic into building houses would be a huge step forward and would lessen the environmental impact. Recycling measures are helping to some extent but literally thousands of tons of plastic still finds its way into landfill. Plastic ends up wreaking havoc on our environment by blocking drains, polluting rivers and the sea.
So, rather than ‘burying ourselves’ in plastic, the two students have suggested grinding up the landfill-bound plastic to make a material that is just as strong as traditional tiles. The material created, Zelij, is composed of 70% plastic and has the added benefit of using 85% less cement than concrete products.
The enterprise start up caught the attention of the cement manufacturer Lafarge Holcim which will exhibit Zelij’s products in Casablanca. The plastic waste needed to create Zelij goes beyond 100 tons a month so they have started their own collection network.
Potentially, Zelij has the ability to become international with a plethora of products to cover the market. At the moment it aims to reach a production capacity of 40,000 square meters a month by 2020. Not only does the plastic material serve a purpose but its geometric patterns make it look aesthetically pleasing.
Elsewhere, in India, people are trying to tackle plastic excess by making homes and pavements out of used plastic bags. Businesses in the emerging tech hotspot of Hyderabad have found a golden business opportunity by using the bags to not only build houses but also produce pedestrian walkways.
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