I’ve seen fused plastic dresses, messenger bags, tote bags, kites and belts, but I’ve never seen shitty old plastic bags transformed into something as practical as Cobble Stones. That’s exactly what they’re doing in Mopti, Mali as France 24 reports in this clip. Yay Africa.
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everydaytrash 
Sunday, April 12, 2009 at 1:38 am |
its great that they are dealing with a solid waste scourge, but, uh, what about the toxic fumes that are being released into the air? is burning plastic an healthy solution or just trading one kind of pollution for another?
Sunday, April 12, 2009 at 10:08 am |
Good point. Mopti needs a more sustainable answer. When you consider though that this is Mali’s only plastic recycling and that most trash is burned anyway, I still think it’s a handy interim solution for two needs: affordable building materials and fewer plastic bags blowing around.
We’ll have to follow what the Agha Khan Foundation does in Mali. I’d like to learn more about the AKF as well. They’re all over Africa doing interesting things.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at 1:47 am |
My thought was exactly the same. It seems great to be giving people jobs, but what happens when the guys who move melting plastic around all day start keeling over? What about not melting the plastic, but still using it as a filler of some sort? Intriguing idea though, and at least it’s some kind of progress that might lead to something else.