Building with Bottles

Summary

The program aims to create a sustainable business in Port au Prince, Haiti. Co-Directors Dara, 23, and Brett, 20, will work with The Afya Foundation to begin employing furniture makers in Haiti, in an effort to provide furniture for thousands of people living in IDP camps, impact the local environment/need for sanitation solutions, and create a sustainable employment opportunity for people with disabilities or parents of children with disabilities (often, the people who are most marginalized).

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

Empty plastic bottles are littered everywhere in Port au Prince. This overabundance of trash creates an opportunity to re-purpose the plastic bottle garbage by developing a business model that will generate ongoing employment for many disabled individuals or caregivers of disabled children, living in IDP settlements.

How will this project solve this problem?

The potential for market penetration with this vitally needed service/product is high. This furniture program marks a design/development response targeted by Dara, a young engineer, and Brett, an architecture student, that directly correlates to the needs assessed by Afya, namely the empowerment of those disabled during the earthquake. This model has the potential to become a microfinance program in which bottle makers can pay initial investments back once a steady income has been established.

Potential Long Term Impact

The program will be expanded to include 10 cottage industry set-ups in Port-au-Prince, 10 trained and employed furniture makers, 10 local seamstresses employed at each site, 20 employed bottle collectors (2 per site), and 1 Haitian Project Manager. As the program continues to develop, all furniture makers will be encouraged to take on apprentices and additional bottle collectors after the microloan has been repaid.

Project Message

To address [the high percentage of disabled and unemployed individuals], Building with Bottles will create a sustainable business model in Haiti...It is a very, very good idea.
- Bill Clinton, Announced the Commitment, 2012 CGI U Conference

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).

Resources

Project Id: #11521