UNICEF ‘Plastic Bricks’
As a UNICEF Business Buddie, Eurobottle supports UNICEF by donating 1% of every Oasus water bottle sale, contributing to the sustainable Plastic Bricks project in Ivory Coast, where plastic waste is recycled into building blocks for classrooms.
UNICEF ‘Plastic Bricks’
1 Oasus water bottle = 1% to Unicef Plastic Bricks
A brick for the future
Eurobottle is committed to a better future by supporting UNICEF. With every sale of an Oasus water bottle, Eurobottle donates 1% of the proceeds, contributing to UNICEF’s project that recycles plastic waste into building bricks for classrooms in Ivory Coast, supporting women and giving children access to education.
Plastic Bricks in Ivory Coast
Plastic Bricks is a sustainable project that recycles plastic into building blocks for classrooms in Ivory Coast. The West African country has a huge waste problem. Only five percent of plastic is sold for recycling, mostly by women. Unfortunately, this pays them far too little. At the same time, 1.6 million children and youth in Côte d’Ivoire are not attending school. UNICEF’s factory buys the plastic waste directly from the women and processes it into building blocks. Through collaborations with partners and sustainable solutions, UNICEF offers women and youth in Côte d’Ivoire hope for the future. UNICEF trains mothers and youth in the collection, safe storage and disposal of plastic waste. At our recycling plant, we buy the plastic waste directly from the women for a fair price. The plant processes the plastic waste into building blocks, which are used to build new classrooms.
1 Oasus water bottle = 1% to Unicef Plastic Bricks
The problem
Only five percent of the huge amount of plastic waste in Ivory Coast is recycled mostly by women and youth from the poorest communities. They collect the waste and sell it on the black market. Women are underpaid and their own communities treat them as misfits. In doing so, they cannot afford to send their children to school. For this reason, among others, two million children in Côte d’Ivoire do not attend school. The waste problem is especially present in the poorest communities. The stored plastic waste pollutes groundwater. Contamination blocks the water drainage. This creates a breeding ground for mosquitoes, bacteria and parasites that cause malaria, diarrhea and cholera, for example.
What does UNICEF do
UNICEF trains (young) mothers and youth in the collection, safe storage and disposal of plastic waste. They also receive entrepreneurship training so they can start their own businesses. This teaches them to charge a fair price for recycling plastic and to do so with a direct buyer. Currently, they receive 20 percent of the market price through middlemen on the black market. In a fair situation, they would receive 80 to 90 percent of the market price from a direct buyer. In late 2019, UNICEF opened a recycling plant in Youpougon. Here we buy the plastic waste directly from the women for a fair price. The plant processes the plastic waste into building blocks, which are used to build new classrooms. By buying the waste directly, it no longer needs to be stored in communities. This is how we create a cleaner environment and prevent deadly diseases for children.
This is how fast the construction of a Plastic Bricks school goes
This timelapse shows how they are building a school in the Ivory Coast at lightning speed, made from building blocks made from recycled plastic waste. A win-win-win situation: for children, the local community and the environment.