Elijah builds a case for recycled paper bricks

ELIJAH Djan has two wishes – to help people and help the environment.

He is almost at the point of that becoming a reality and wants to help thousands of people put a roof over their heads.

His idea, converting waste paper into bricks, was showcased at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Africa this week. The bricks are called Nubricks, and he started the initiative 10 years ago for a school science project.

“I had a simple idea and I hope it will make a difference. Right now my project needs a financial push for it to be signed off and then people will be able to use the product,” said the 21-year-old industrial engineering student at Pretoria University.

“There are 1.7 million tons of waste paper in the country and 1.2 million people living in shacks. Imagine recycling the waste paper into quality bricks so people will not have to live in shacks.”

A normal brick costs about R2, but Djan said one Nubrick would cost between 70c and R1.

“It will be cheaper to use this to build a home. I built a wall with the Nubrick 10 years ago and the structure is still standing,” he said.

The brick had the potential to change the construction industry. “We will think before we just throw away things like paper. I want to change the attitude towards recycling so there is an an incentive to recycle.”

He was also investigating using other recyclable material such as glass and plastics.

The bricks, each made of 160g of paper have been through several tests. “It’s passed all tests and we need to take it to the next step,” he said. “There is a potential to create 10 000 bricks a day using a ton of paper,” he said.