Recycled plastic can build houses

Ten years ago, I visited a relocation site for Typhoon Yolanda victims in Ormoc City, where the temporary housing donor, Tzu Chi Foundation, a humanitarian non-government organization, was utilizing recycled plastics for its walls and roofing.

Made of Polypropylene Plastic (PP) board and steel frames, the shelters come in two floor areas: a 21-square-meter for families with up to four members, and 27-square-meter for families with five and more members. The houses feature a living room, bedroom, toilet and bath, and kitchen. Each house is made up of typhoon-resilient steel frames, sliding doors, and brick flooring.

There are 2,000 houses constructed by Tzu Chi in a 50-hectare land donated by the Codilla family.

It was actually my first time to see such structure made of recycled plastics and I find amazing how the new technology turned these often discarded materials into something very useful—a material for housing.

It made me realize that the plastic bottles like PET, or HDPE or PP and other type of plastic should not be thrown anywhere, but rather we should recover these recyclable materials or else these will end up in our landfills, or worse in coastal areas.

Recently, I have heard that 4 Earth will install its prefabricated modular house here in Puerto Princesa City as part of the initiatives of USAID-Clean Cities Blue Ocean and its local partner, Project Eco Kolek.

An individual dumps more than 100 kilograms of plastic every year, based on Worldwatch Institute. Plastic pollution has not only affected our natural environment but also increases poverty. Fortunately, recycling initiatives around the world attempt to fight plastic pollution by promoting plastic recycling while reducing poverty by building houses, schools, and other infrastructure.

Here in Puerto Princesa, some 175 to 180 tons of unsorted solid wastes end up in our landfill in Sta. Lourdes. Informal waste pickers in the landfill said that around 33 tons of recyclable materials were recovered monthly, from these mixed wastes.

New technologies that can break down synthetic plastics to create new materials are improving fast fueled by innovators and start-ups globally.

There are inspiring signs of these recycling efforts.

The Tzu Chi temporary housing made from recycled plastic showed that it was indeed durable house. Who would expect that these houses made of plastic would last longer than what is expected. Today, 10 years later, these temporary shelters are still there, benefiting the families who survived the onslaught of the world’s strongest typhoon- Yolanda.