NLThe Future Mobility Network is a proud Business Buddy of UNICEF! As Business Buddies of the children’s fund, we are helping with the sustainable project Plastic Bricks. And although plastic suggests little sustainability the project delivers many benefits.
What are Plastic Bricks?
Ivory Coast has a huge waste problem. Every day nearly 300,000 kilograms of plastic ends up in landfills in poorer communities. At the same time, more than 1.5 million children cannot attend school, simply because there are not enough buildings. Plastic Bricks combats both problems by using recycled plastic to develop building blocks for classrooms.
Sales of plastic take place only on a small scale, mostly by women. UNICEF also trains women and youth in collecting, safely storing and processing the plastic waste. Then, at a recycling factory, the plastic is bought off at a fair price and processed into the building blocks.
First goals
FMN is thus contributing to UNICEF’s short-term goal of training 150 women to collect and process plastic. They will also learn to cooperate, communicate and do business. With the factory, 9,200,000 kilograms of plastic can be processed annually, which is the target number. That could lead to 528 classrooms made of recycled plastic that could accommodate 25,000 children. UNICEF is also helping improve the quality of education by training teachers and improving environmental (awareness) by planting flora with children.
We at The Future Mobility Network also believe that children should be allowed to be children and are happy to make a difference in the lives of several children. UNICEF does not work with just anyone, but selects companies on their (sustainable) profile. That is why we are extra proud of this collaboration and look forward to a better future together.