A dwelling in Mangaluru is Karnataka’s first environmentally-friendly ‘recycled plastic house’
The Plastics for Change India Foundation has built the first recycled plastic house in Karnataka with about 1,500 kilograms of plastic.
According to the 2011 census, about 1.77 million people comprising men, women, children, elderly and the disabled are homeless.
This innovative solution by a waste collector, Kamala in Karnataka, in association with Plastics for Change India Foundation gives hope in this scenario. The foundation has been helping waste collectors across the coastal belt of the state, and has constructed a house made entirely of recycled plastic for a waste collector at Pacchanady.
“This is an innovative and environmentally sustainable project that converts hard-to-recycle plastic waste into building material that can be used to construct low-cost shelters. This is Karnataka’s first environmentally-friendly ‘recycled plastic house’ in Mangaluru. The durability test of the construction material has been conducted before building the house,” Shifrah Jacobs, Chief Impact Officer of the Foundation told Deccan Herald.
She added that they are planning to come up with about 20 such houses, in which about 20 tonnes of plastic will be used. It could also be used to construct toilets.
Karnataka's first recycled plastic house (Image: Deccan Herald)
The Rs 4.5 lakh plastic infrastructure is about 350 square metres and was constructed in association with a Hyderabad-based construction partner ‘Bamboo Projects’.
“We have plans to construct more such houses for economically weaker sections with government support. The construction cost can be reduced to 3.5 lakh if more houses are constructed simultaneously,” project co-ordinator Jayanthi, told News Karnataka.
“Nearly 1,500 kilograms of plastic comprising low-density plastic (LDP) multi-layered plastic (MLP) and other plastics such as tetra packs and gutka packets were used in the construction. As many as 60 such panels were used to construct the plastic house,” she added.
Apart from this construction, the Plastics for Change India Foundation has also been working with local communities in Pacchanady and Kurikatta in Mangaluru. It is also organising online classes for 20 children in these areas.
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Edited by Rekha Balakrishnan
