How to turn waste into warmth

Forty percent of the global refugee population is concentrated in the Middle East. With 3.6 million Syrian refugees living in Turkey, and millions more seeking temporary shelter in camps across the region,1 it’s a huge challenge for local governments to provide for their safety and security.

With planned and improvised shelters lacking long-term provisions for cold climate conditions, the challenge increases substantially in the winter months. Relying heavily on the distribution of blankets, stoves and fuel, typical approaches to winterization assistance can cause as many problems as they solve, increasing living costs for displaced families and negatively impacting their health. They can also negatively impact the surrounding environment, with 8 million tons of plastic waste generated across the region’s refugee camps each year.2

But what if, instead of being a problem, that waste could be transformed into insulation material, providing a better answer to the challenge of providing warm, safe shelter? Even better, what if refugees themselves could get involved in the production of those materials, offering opportunities for dignified and stable employment?

Comprised of The Polyfloss Factory, Engineers Without Borders Norway (EWB-N) and Field Ready — and supported by the Norwegian Red Cross — this is exactly what the innovative Waste for Warmth partnership has been figuring out.

The approach being developed and tested by Waste for Warmth revolves around innovative Polyfloss technology. Waste thermoplastics — i.e., plastics that become moldable at elevated temperatures and solidify upon cooling — are collected in the refugee camps, sorted, shredded and cleaned. These plastic chips are then heated and spun in small machines, which transform them into a mass of thin fibers resembling cotton candy.

The resulting material makes for ideal tent insulation and, because Polyfloss machines can be easily operated by two people with minimal training, this technology means refugees can manufacture their own insulation. It’s an ingenious model, generating multiple benefits:

• Exemplifying circular economy principles, it upcycles local waste, giving discarded plastics new life as insulation products.
  
• On-site production of these insulation products not only offers refugees opportunities for decent work and to generate income, but also alleviates the need for shipment of materials that would involve far greater cost and environmental impact.
  
• Use of these plastic insulation materials alleviates reliance on burning dirty, dangerous and expensive fuels for warmth, further reducing environmental impact and risks to displaced families’ health and safety.