Plastics News Europe - July/August 2019 - 9

PLASTICS IN CONSTRUCTION

and guarantees a proper connection
between the bricks. The wall is held
in place using an anchor tie down
system, which basically means inserting rods through the entire wall into
the foundation at regular intervals
and bolting them at each end. This
system of construction lends flexibility to the structure, thus improving its
resistance to earthquakes. The roof is
a simple double roof system, which
blocks the heat in the summer and
helps to harvest rain water.
A family of four adults could build
a 50m2 house in a few weeks using
this system, recycling approximately 6
tonnes of waste plastic and saving up
to 40% in construction costs.
Families can choose to build their
house incrementally: starting from a
small family home, more floors can
be added in the future, creating more
space, which could also be rented
out, providing a supplementary
source of income.

Designing in sustainability
The thermal insulation capacity of the
plastic UniBricks has been shown to
be three times greater than that of
clay bricks. They can easily withstand
the temperatures of most places.
During production, the molten plastic
is mixed with natural fillers like glass
sand or fly ash, which is also an industrial waste, in order to make the
bricks fire resistant and to improve
their compression strength. Each
brick weighs around 6 kilos and contains 3 kilos of recycled plastic. The
two main waste plastics used to produce the bricks are PP and PE. These
two plastics account for the vast majority of plastic waste in the environment. Filler material makes up the
remaining 3 kilos. Some 2000 bricks
would be needed to build a 50m2
house.
Additionally, while the bricks will
virtually last forever, they can be

Joinery detail

re-recycled after use. As producers,
we would have an extended producer responsibility to take them back
and recycle them, creating a closed
material flow loop. This could lead to
the creation of circular communities
and, eventually, less plastic ending up
in our oceans.
The bricks are produced on the
basis of existing technologies, plastic
production techniques and material
research. According to our calculations, using waste plastic to make
the bricks will benefit local communities and the environment specifically by saving at least 3kg in CO2
emissions per kg of plastic used, also
offsetting the use of virgin construction materials.

So how to implement on
a global scale?
Most cities in the developing world
have a thriving army of local informal
waste recyclers, who collect, sort and

sell all types of recyclables. They are
the unsung heroes of the local communities and a very vital part of the
waste management system.
The strategy is to create a decentral circular system, by formalising
the role of the local informal waste
recyclers and helping to collect the
plastics from source. Neighbourhood waste banks should be set up
with the help of local governments,
where the local population could exchange their household waste for
cash. The collected waste plastic
could then be transported to a decentral material factory where the bricks
can be locally produced and used to
build houses.
Our target groups are individuals
or families, who want to be self-reliant for their housing needs. We are
primarily focusing on low-income
communities. For these, we would
like to work out a financing system,
that facilitates periodical payments,
to achieve affordability.

From project to production
While the UniBrick started out as a
graduation project, today it has
grown into a start-up venture
called Conscious Designs. The aim is
to create architectural designs and
solutions for the circular economy,
working in the fields of water, food,
clean energy, waste and affordable
housing.
Conscious Designs is working on
the project in collaboration with Frans
Taminiau and his Rotterdam-based
Community Plastics initiative. I contacted Frans after graduating for help
in making my first real prototype, as
up to then, I had only 3D printed versions of the brick. Before long, the
Urban furniture module

JULY/AUGUST 2019

➡ Continued on page 10
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