Young entrepreneur looking to future brick by brick
ELIJAH Djan has two wishes – to help people and help the environment. He is almost at the point of making his wish a reality and wants to help thousands of people put a roof over their head.
His idea, converting waste paper into bricks, called Nubricks, was showcased at the World Economic Forum Africa this week. He started the scheme 10 years ago for a school science project.
“I had a simple idea and I hope it will make a difference in the world. 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 Djan, 21, an industrial engineering student at the University of Pretoria.
“There are 1.7 million tons of waste paper in the country and 1.2 million people living in shacks. I thought, imagine recycling the waste paper into quality housing bricks so that people will not have to live in shacks anymore. That is my motivation,” he said.
A normal brick costs about R2, but Djan said one Nubrick would cost between 70 cents and R1.
“I built a wall with the Nubrick 10 years ago and the structure is still standing.”
The brick, he said, had the potential to change the construction industry.
“Now we will think before we throw away things like paper. Something as simple as that can be used to make something useful. I want to also change the attitude towards recycling so there is an an incentive. We can say to someone that the paper they save can go towards building a home.”
He was also investigating using other recyclable material such as glass and plastics.
“Other countries make use of waste to develop products, and we need to invest in the same way in South Africa; we have a lot of potential.”
The bricks have “passed all tests but we need financial backing for the project on a larger scale”. Each is made of 160g of paper. “There is a potential to create 10 000 bricks a day using a ton of paper.”