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Houses made from plastic bottles? Yes, that exists!

Sustainability
2. April 2024

SINA (Social Innovation Academy) turns old plastic bottles into a useful resource in Africa.

Houses made from plastic bottles? Yes, that exists!
Stories

The word “waste” in “plastic waste” is definitely out of place here: SINA (Social Innovation Academy) turns old plastic bottles into a useful resource in Africa. We as Greiner support them in this. Learn more about the project here.

A very special project was implemented in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo: SINA used our donation to build two houses made from plastic bottles.

In 2022, a building made from recycled plastic bottles was constructed in the Kyaka II refugee settlement in Uganda. Young refugees use the space to become social entrepreneurs. Around 40,000 bottles were used in the Kyaka refugee camp in Uganda.

The second building was constructed in the small town of Maluku outside Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where another SINA community is being established. Kinshasa was completed at the end of February 2024. Construction took a total of about four months. Of this, the first few weeks are for bottle collection and filling. The building has around 50,000 plastic bottles installed.

"What is SINA? Disadvantaged young people and refugees in Africa lack opportunities to lead a decent life - and so they remain in poverty. SINA communities are changing the education system in Africa and enabling people to set up social enterprises. The Social Innovation Academy (SINA) in Africa thus supports young people in creating their own jobs. More than 70 social enterprises have emerged from SINA and still exist today."