UNICEF Building Unique Plastic Brick Factory in Cote d’Ivoire

A former executive with Ford Motor Company and Nissan Motor Company, Philip Calhoun draws upon nearly 20 years of experience improving operational processes in the automotive sphere in his role as executive vice president at Total Quality Engineering. Outside of his professional pursuits, Philip Calhoun supports several nonprofit organizations, including UNICEF.

Active in more than 190 countries, UNICEF works to protect the rights of children and ensure they have proper shelter, nutrition, and are safe from natural disasters and global conflicts. The nonprofit is also a strong proponent of education. It achieves its mission via research and practical solutions in countries that have some of the world’s most vulnerable populations.

This past July, UNICEF broke ground on a factory in Cote d’Ivoire that will transform plastic waste into modular plastic bricks. Those durable low-cost bricks will be used to construct classrooms. The factory, which is being built in partnership with Conceptos Plasticos, will be capable of recycling 9,600 tons of plastic waste per year and help lift its women workers out of poverty. The plastic bricks it produces will be fire-resistant and last much longer than clay bricks or other conventional building materials.

As many as 15,000 classrooms need to be constructed to meet the needs of children in Cote d’Ivoire, and the factory is expected to supply enough plastic bricks to build 500 classrooms over the next two years. They will be built in and near Abidjan, where only five percent of the city’s 280 tonnes of plastic waste are recycled each year.