There is certainly no shortage of plastics waste in the West African state of Ivory Coast as evidenced by carelessly discarded plastic bags or empty PET bottles. But for some time now, the social project Brick x Brick has been turning the waste crisis into an educational virtue. With the support of the Colombian non-profit recycling initiative Conceptos Plasticos and UN group UNICEF, day laborers – mostly women – collect plastics waste in the port city of Abidjan and sell it by the bag to a local recycling factory, which uses it to make construction bricks. School rooms and classrooms are then built from these blocks.

The bricks made from the recycled plastics are said to be easier to work than traditional clay bricks, insulate better against heat, and are more weather-resistant. Currently, 300 classrooms have already been built, with the final target set at more than 500. Around 2,000 t of plastics waste have so far been recycled for such educational purposes. One could say that people are getting schooled in more ways than one…