Recycled Plastic to Build ‘Recycled Island!’

The biggest dumping ground on earth for gigantic amounts of waste is our oceans. Every day a colossal amount of waste reaches our oceans and the environmental impact of this is rather obvious. But how do you turn an environmental hazard like this into something eco-friendly? WHIM Architecture hopes to answer this question in a very innovative way!

The Pacific Ocean…

Currently has the dubious honor of being the most polluted water body on earth in terms of plastic waste. The damage on wildlife as a result of this is significant to say the least.

A solution?

Has been proposed by WHIM Architecture, an international architecture firm based in the Netherlands, and it’s certainly a bold one.

The idea is to collect a massive amount of waste plastic drifting on our oceans – 44,000 tonnes of it – process all that plastic and then build an island with it in the Pacific Ocean!

Recycled Island…

Which is the name for the proposed island will be self-sufficient and will be the size of Hawaii, and will include residential housing, beaches, tourism outlets, agricultural land etc. As such it will be an eco-tourism hotspot with a lot to promote that is eco-friendly and certainly innovative.

The steps in the process of converting plastic into an effective building material will include,

• Collection of waste plastic and separation into different groups according to type
• Shred the plastic and then clean the material thoroughly
• Heat the plastic
• Reproduction into a useful building substance

Fully sustainable…

Is what this island hopes to be and vast seaweed cultivation areas on the island will certainly be of help in achieving this goal. These farms will increase local fish populations and act as ‘nutrient sinks’ for inorganic nutrients. In addition the final product can also be used as food, fertilizer, bio-fuel and even for CO2 absorption.

Via: World Architecture News