Plastic Waste
Plastic waste has become a major global problem, and one that must be addressed in order to solve the world’s resource and energy challenges. Millions of plastic items are improperly disposed of on a daily basis, creating piles of plastic waste everywhere. This has brought serious damages to local environments around the world in terms of water, air and soil pollution. It blocks drains, pollutes rivers and wreaks havoc on the environment.
The Story Began…
I was watching a TV show, where Moroccan former interior minister, announced that Morocco has decided to take action to eliminate plastic bags through its campaign “Zero Plastic Bag”, to ban the manufacture, commercialization, and importation of plastic bags. Then I realized that the best solution for disposing of plastic waste is recycling it to produce new materials that are sustainable and recyclable. Which mean a product that can be recycled to create added value and a real Circular Economy. As social entrepreneur and change maker it was for me the right time to start doing an acting to address this issue and have a real impact on my community and worldwide.
Dream to Action, From “A” to "Z"elij Invent
As a first step the idea is to develop, a new material based on plastic that can be used such as cement in construction product and more.
My first research led me to create an eco-friendly paving stones and floor tiles made from plastic waste. That can be used in all the same ways as regular products in gardens, sidewalks, parking and more, but:
- use less energy and water in production,
- are cheaper to produce
- offer better insulation and are more durable than most alternatives.
Everybody wins! Zelij aims to eliminate more than 3000 tons of plastic waste every year, while reducing resources used in manufacture and energy use for customers.
Thanks to the OCI Lab program, we discovered several tools and we explored several new methods. Now the next milestone is to develop a ready to market prototype and test it with beta users.