Much of the world has been on a warpath to eradicate the use of single-use plastics and plastic products completely from the ecosystem. The production of such products can be halted at source but the major problem is the sustainable disposal of the materials that are already present in the environment. Among which, plastic bags and plastic bottles are a major concern that needs immediate redressal. Hence, to sustainably dispose of the plastic bottles and to provide refugees shelter and relief from the scorching Algerian sun, this 27-year-old engineer came up with a master plan.
Born in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria, Tateh Lehbib Braica AKA ‘bottle man’ helps thousands of people by building houses for them using sand-filled plastic bottles as bricks.
The refugee camp is home to 90,000 people who were displaced by conflict in Western Sahara over 40 years ago. During summers, the temperature in the area rises above 50C, making it impossible for people to venture out.
“I was born in a sun-dried brick house. The roof was made of sheets of zinc – one of the best heat conductors. I and my family had to endure high temperatures, rain and sandstorms that would sometimes take the roof off,” he said to The Guardian.
When he came back to the camps after studying renewable energy from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), he decided to build a place for his grandmother that was more comfortable. He started building the house with sand-filled plastic bottles, cement and a mixture of earth and straw. Each house needs about 6,000 bottles and takes a team of four people to build the house in a week. The house also has ecological benefits.
“We don’t have modern recycling as they do in other countries, but we can make use of all the tonnes of plastic,” says Tateh. “The idea came to me in 2016 after the big flood,” he says. “I was using plastic bottles to make a mock-up of some roofs and it just hit me.”
Reportedly, the plastic bottle structures are more water-resistant and their circular shape can withstand sandstorms. Their white-painted exterior also reduces the impact of solar rays by up to 90%.
Tateh uses recycled plastic bottles to build new homes ♻️
Posted by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency on Friday, September 20, 2019
Tateh was finally able to convince his community to support his innovation along with the UNHCR’s Geneva HQ. The agency’s grant has seen multiple houses built in the five Sahrawi refugee camps in the Algerian province of Tindouf.
With a little money, manpower and a lot of natural resources, Tateh is able to provide shelter to thousands of people in Algeria while stopping plastic bottles from polluting the ecosystem. What a brilliant idea.