Unicef Business Buddies

Through the Plastic Bricks program, Unicef creates a cleaner living environment for children, ensures children can attend school, and supports the women who collect plastic:

• Unicef trains women in collecting, safely storing, and processing plastic waste.
• Unicef provides these women with entrepreneurship training so that they can start their own businesses.
• Unicef purchases the plastic waste from the women at a fair price.
• Unicef processes the plastic waste in a factory into building blocks, which are used to construct new classrooms.

The objectives 2019 through the end of 2025

• Building 528 classrooms with recycled plastic building blocks
• Giving 25,000 extra children access to education.

The objectives from 2026 – Plastic Building Blocks:

• Every year, Unicef aims to realize the construction of 240 classrooms, built with innovative building blocks made of recycled plastic.
• In this way, Unicef opens the door to education for 12,000 extra children every year.

The results so far  

• They have trained nearly 300 women in collecting, safely storing, and processing plastic waste, and other crucial skills such as collaboration, communication, and entrepreneurship.
• Unicef have built 516 classrooms from recycled plastic; the last 12 are currently under construction. To achieve this, over 3,220 tonnes of plastic waste were removed from the surrounding area and transformed into something lasting. In addition, 76 existing classrooms have been used so that they too can last for years to come.
• Nearly 17,000 teachers have been trained to improve their lessons. 16 schools now have clean water and toilets, facilities that ensure children can go to school healthy and safe.
• More than 25,000 children now have a permanent place to learn. Every day.
• 1,000 school desks made of recycled plastic have been produced and delivered to schools in the region.