A woman spent nine years saving to buy a vacant lot: 800 volunteers built her a home with 850 recycled plastic blocks

Every year, millions of tons of plastic waste are generated around the world, and unfortunately, much of it ends up in landfills or polluting natural environments. The problem continues to grow, but innovative solutions are slowly beginning to emerge. In Costa Rica, a collaborative effort led by several organizations helped a homeless mother and her daughter move into a home built almost entirely with recycled materials.

The woman at the center of this story is Cindy Mora, who spent nine years saving enough money to purchase a small vacant lot in Alajuelita, near San José. However, after buying the property, she could not afford to build a house where she and her six-year-old son could live.

That is when Procter & Gamble, Habitat for Humanity, Urbarium, and Ekojunto stepped in. Employees from the organizations contributed more than 800 hours of volunteer work to build a one-of-a-kind home. The walls were constructed using interlocking blocks made from recycled plastic bottles, containers, bags, and other plastic waste, while the rest of the structure was built with conventional construction materials.

A home built with nearly 7.7 tons of recycled plastic

The home was built using approximately 850 Bliqueplas blocks, incorporating nearly 7.7 tons (about 15,400 pounds) of recycled plastic.

These blocks feature an interlocking design that allows them to fit together much like oversized building bricks. Even so, the project still required a traditional foundation, electrical wiring, plumbing, a roof, and standard interior and exterior finishes.

From the outside, the house looks just like any conventional home because the plastic blocks were covered with stucco and paint. The difference lies inside the walls, where recycled plastic was given a second life instead of ending up in a landfill. At the time, Costa Rica recycled only a small percentage of the plastic waste it generated each day, making the project a powerful demonstration of how recycled materials can be used in construction.

Beyond providing a permanent home for a family in need, the project also highlighted new ways to repurpose hard-to-recycle plastic waste. Although this house did not lead to an entire neighborhood being built with the same system, the initiative inspired similar projects across Costa Rica. In the years that followed, additional construction projects were announced that incorporated recycled plastic into building materials.

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