Can Recycled Plastic Homes Solve The Housing Shortage?

Sustainable Housing Alternative

• A Norwegian start-up can build up to four-story structures using recycled plastic waste, recycling 8 tons of plastic to assemble a 60 square meter home.
• This sustainable housing alternative converts the plastic problem into a solution to another problem, providing a durable and long-life roof for thousands of citizens.

Global Adoption

• Countries around the world have adopted this trend, including Rotterdam, where four-story townhouses are made of recycled rubble, and Mumbai, where homes are made of recycled doors and windows from demolished houses.
• Some have taken a creative approach, using solely recycled glass bottles or upcycling one-way shipping containers.

Market Potential

• There is a huge potential for this market to fill the gap in the world's plastic waste crisis while addressing other pressing issues like the housing shortage and job creation in rural areas.

Othalo's Partnership with UN-Habitat

• Othalo, a Norwegian startup, has partnered with UN-Habitat to build sustainable homes for people in Africa living in informal settlements.
• Othalo's patented technology produces building systems from recycled plastic waste.
• The project will launch an initial pilot in Nairobi, Kenya, Dakar, Senegal, and Yaoundé, and eventually build a factory in Kenya using locally-sourced plastic waste and creating jobs in the region.

Housing Shortage Crisis

• The United Nations Human Settlements Program reports an estimate of 1.6 billion people around the world living in inadequate housing and over 100 million people with no housing at all.
• Developing countries are particularly vulnerable to these struggles, with 60-70% of urban households in Africa living in slums, and Latin America and the Caribbean experiencing similar difficulties.

Health Risks in Slums

• The housing environment is a critical variable in human health, with inhabitants of slums facing particular health risks such as poor sanitation, toxic building materials, or unsafe infrastructures.