This is the house that waste built

This is the house built from bricks made from waste.

It may look like any other home, but the entire building was constructed from material that usually ends up at the dump. The building blocks are made from builder's rubble and soil, the gutters from old computer parts and the roof tiles were once plastic bags and bottles.

The model house, situated in Giba Gorge near Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal, was built by Durban-based NGO USE-IT. Its managing director, Chris Whyte, said he believed nothing should ever go to waste. If he had his way, similar homes would be popping up all around South Africa.

The organisation opened its doors in 2009 with the dream of rerouting rubbish for re-use and through this, creating employment in "the green economy".

To date, the organisation has helped 2200 people get jobs in KwaZulu-Natal. This year alone it has managed to divert R2.6-million worth of waste from the rubbish dump.

The building blocks in particular have become a booming business. Made from 25% builder's waste, 5% cement stabilising agent and 70% soil, the compressed-earth blocks are SABS-approved, three to five times stronger than concrete blocks and 10 times more thermally efficient.

The blocks have 5% of the environmental footprint of concrete and are also easier to build with.

The country is running out of dumping space, Whyte warned.

"South Africa takes 108 million tons of waste annually and puts it into 2000 landfill dumps. We should be recycling the majority of that. We still have a long way to go - we are not even scratching the surface," said Whyte.

The challenge is getting trash into the local economy. Manufacturers need a steady supply of quality recycled materials, and suppliers need a continual demand for dismantled waste.

"This is where USE-IT comes in," said Whyte. "We help to develop and secure local markets for recovered materials, which encourages investment and job creation within these markets."