On May 26, 2018, Cindy Mora and her six-year-old son, Fabrizio, moved into a new home in the Lámparas neighborhood of Alajuelita, San José Province. Its walls were built with about seven tons of recycled plastic. The affordable housing project brought together nonprofit and corporate partners, construction technology, and local volunteers.
Mora, a single mother who worked as a domestic cleaner, spent nine years saving enough to buy a small plot of land. Even after securing the property, reportedly with the help of a loan, she could not afford to build a house. Hábitat para la Humanidad assessed the family’s circumstances and the property’s feasibility before the project moved forward, helping address the gap between owning land and being able to build a home.
Turning Plastic Into Shelter
Her case drew the attention of a partnership involving Procter & Gamble, Hábitat para la Humanidad Costa Rica, Urbarium and Ekojunto. The organizations combined housing assistance with technical coordination, materials and volunteer labor. The project used Bloqueplas, a construction system developed by Ekojunto that turns discarded plastic, including bottles, packaging and bags, into interlocking blocks. Designed to fit together in a modular arrangement compared with large-scale building toys, the blocks formed the home’s walls. The project used approximately seven tons of plastic waste to produce about 850 blocks.
The blocks made up the walls, while conventional materials were used for the foundation and roof structure, as well as the electrical installation, potable-water pipes, doors and windows. Once assembled, the blocks were covered with plaster and paint, giving the home a traditional exterior. The project used recycled plastic in a basic part of the structure, not to build the entire house from plastic.
Volunteer Effort and Fast Construction
More than 800 hours of volunteer work, primarily from Procter & Gamble employees, contributed to the build. That figure represents total labor time, not the number of volunteers. Urbarium coordinated local execution, while Hábitat para la Humanidad oversaw beneficiary selection and applied social and technical criteria. Construction began on April 23, 2018, and was completed in just over a month, aided by the modular block system and organized support from the partners.
The house was built directly on the land Mora had purchased, allowing her family to remain in its established community. The project paired affordable housing support with an experimental way to reuse plastic waste. A 2018 report by La Mañana/LM Neuquén put Costa Rica’s plastic-waste generation at about 564 tons a day and recycling at roughly 14 tons daily. The outlet reported those figures as national context for the project.
A Home That Looks Like Any Other
From the street, Mora’s house is indistinguishable from its neighbors. Its facade, roof, doors and windows match the local style, with no visible sign of the recycled plastic inside. After its delivery in May 2018, the home was presented as a pilot linking housing assistance and corporate participation with volunteer labor and recycled-material construction.
The story of Mora’s home resurfaced in July 2026, drawing renewed attention to the potential of recycled materials and community partnerships in addressing housing needs. Talent24h described the project as an example of grassroots organizations working with corporate participants on industrial recycling to support families in need.
