--- title: This Company Builds Housing Materials Out of Plastic Waste description: African start-up Kubik makes building materials out of hard-to-recycle plastic for affordable housing projects. canonical: https://time.com/6959259/affordable-homes-plastic-waste-kubik/ author: Lisa Nho article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-03-25T11:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:53:17.288Z article:section: Climate og:title: This Company Builds Housing Materials Out of Plastic Waste og:description: African start-up Kubik makes building materials out of hard-to-recycle plastic for affordable housing projects. og:url: https://time.com/6959259/affordable-homes-plastic-waste-kubik/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02e3eb43ff36f6c2/698a55809d83e822f3b99f37/3_THUMBNAIL.00_00_00_22.Still002.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1920 og:image:height: 1080 og:image:alt: 3_THUMBNAIL.00_00_00_22.Still002 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Company Builds Housing Materials Out of Plastic Waste twitter:description: African start-up Kubik makes building materials out of hard-to-recycle plastic for affordable housing projects. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02e3eb43ff36f6c2/698a55809d83e822f3b99f37/3_THUMBNAIL.00_00_00_22.Still002.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- # Building Affordable Homes Out of Plastic Waste ## Video: Building Affordable Homes Out of Plastic Waste [Watch (HLS stream): Building Affordable Homes Out of Plastic Waste](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZPma3wW2.m3u8) (4:24)  _Published 2024-03-21. With a growing population of over 120 million inhabitants, Ethiopia sees an estimated total consumption of plastic waste of around 400 million kilos every year. Kubik is a start-up based in Africa that makes building materials out of recycled plastic for affordable housing projects while reducing their carbon and plastic footprint._ Mar 25, 2024 11:00 AM UTC by [Lisa Nho](https://time.com/author/lisa-nho/) ## Lisa Nho Mar 25, 2024 11:00 AM UTC With a growing population of over 120 million inhabitants, Ethiopia sees an estimated total consumption of plastic waste of around 400 million kilos every year. 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