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ConstruCycle collects locally available paper waste, which would otherwise be thrown away, and turns it into a self supporting, fireproof and inexpensive building material through an organic processing method. Through this revolutionary technique we are able to reduce landfill waste, methane emissions and provide affordable housing to families in need. ConstruCycle designed structures address two serious global problems: the lack of decent housing and the excess of garbage and harmful emissions. Through our innovative business model, which allows citizens at the Bottom of the Pyramid to pay for their houses with scrap material, ConstruCycle is working to provide a decent home to every family in need.
Who We Are
One billion people in the world lack access to decent housing; Americans alone produce 220 millions tons of garbage each year. No organization is effectively addressing these problems simultaneously. ConstruCycle has developed a low cost, profitable and environmentally friendly housing solution made from locally available recycled paper and coconut fiber. We utilize an innovative business model, which allows citizens at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) to pay their houses with scrap material collected.
Our Mission
To create conditions that support healthy families so they can become personally and financially empowered.
The Need
The need for inexpensive and secure housing to serve citizens at the bottom of the pyramid has a large potential in present global demand; Currently, no one is providing a genuinely sustainable solution. According to UN Habitat, about 1 billion people are living in inadequate housing in urban areas alone and about 100 million people worldwide are homeless. One out of every three city dwellers lives in a slum where housing issues are substandard. By the year 2030, 4 billion people, about 40 percent of the world population, will need access to housing. This translates into demand for 96,150 new affordable units every day. Our idea, operations, and solutions work on local and global problems. According to The Brazilian City Ministry, in Rio de Janeiro the total housing demand is 580,000 units for 2.9 million citizens at the bottom of the pyramid, factoring in about five people per home. From this segment, there is a specific need for 73,920 units to house the 14,784 + scrap material collectors in Rio de Janeiro.
Changing Paragims
Housing challenges have existed since the industrial revolution fueled the population boom. To date, there has not been a system which effectively solves this situation in a sustainable and inexpensive manner. Here at ConstruCycle, we view the problem as the use of the same standard economic paradigms. If we want complete solutions, it is necessary to think in a different way. Bartering, one of the oldest forms of economic transaction, is the method by which people trade by exchange of commodities rather than by the use of money. Analyzing that the modern economical system excludes a large population, we would like to promote another way of thinking to compensate for this inequity. This is represented in our idea and model: the problem with scrap material is that people think it has no value. This has been changing in the last decades thanks to a new generation of creative thinkers who want to resolve global problems in a sustainable way. Housing has been virtually inaccessible to the bottom of the pyramid because options are too expensive for them and the market has not adapted to their needs.
This is due to the construction material available, which is very expensive and contaminating due to the high consumption of energy in the production process. To buy these conventional houses requires people to have access to economical resources such as money or credit history. The people in the BOP have no such resources, but they may have others such as scrap material. For us “trash is cash” and we would like to pass this concept on to other organizations and companies so they can accept scrap for the payment of bills such as electricity, health care and water so more people may have access to these resources. By emphasizing the value of scrap, people will also be more careful and create new ideas to use these resources in a more sustainable way, slowing the high rate of consumerism, which in turn will help mitigate climate change by extracting less natural resources and reducing polluting rates. This also demonstrates that we can make profit while helping society in a sustainable way.
Our Vision
Construcycle will revolutionize the construction industry in such a way that every family in the world will have access to a respectable home, encouraging opportunities to prosper. We will be the top social housing supplier in the world. Our vision will be realized by understanding our customers and designing prefabricated, inexpensive, and high quality houses from recycled materials.