Housing association pledges to build plastic free houses

Accord is aiming to become the first housing association in the UK to build virtually plastic free houses in its attempts to reduce the amount of plastic used during construction.

The West Midlands-based housing association announced that it will build 12 homes minimising the use of plastic during the construction process, using alternatives when it comes to fitting the kitchens, bathrooms and windows, as well as reducing the amount of plastic used in building materials.

Accord believes this will be the first project of its kind in the UK, where a housing association is looking to minimise the use of plastic in house-building.

Carl Taylor, assistant director of New Businesses at Accord said: “We believe this type of development hasn’t been done at scale before – there have been a few one off attempts, but nobody has really looked at how we could produce mainstream houses with all the amenities without using plastic.

“We particularly want to remove the plastic from the kitchens and the bathrooms, because even though a house can last for a hundred years or more, the average kitchen and bathroom is changed every few years and we are keen to avoid generating plastic waste.  This trans-European project will enable us to work with our European partners to identify plastic free building products. We haven’t yet got a plastic free solution to the electrics for instance, but we will be challenging people in the building products manufacturing industry to help us find solutions.”

The building sector is responsible for more than 60 per cent of resource use in Europe, with more than 30-50 per cent of material use taking place in the housing construction sector.