WFO showcases first shelter made of recycled plastic

Plastic waste collected and then recycled can become a useful tool for dealing with emergency situations. This was the result of the experimental project presented at Ecomondo in Rimini, Italy by Waste Free Oceans (WFO) and Corepla, which created a humanitarian shelter prototype with plastic collected along the Po river in Italy.

According to a press release, Italy-based Corepla partnered with WFO on the project by providing the material that was used for the first shelter.

WFO says the plastic waste was collected with experimental polyethylene barriers in the river. After being recycled by Corepla, the material was sent to English-based Protomax Plastics to produce the boards to build the shelter.

The humanitarian shelter project combats the issue of marine litter and educates society on recycling solutions while helping some regions in the world, WFO says.

At the end of Ecomondo, the panels were disassembled and sent to Athens, Greece to help the refugees in the area.

The concept, WFO says, is to “manage part of the refugee's plastic waste in order to produce recycled panels" that can be "used to build emergency shelters or any other useful structures suitable to their needs.”