The firm had partnered with UN to use remains after an explosion in Beirut, to create furniture for public spaces.

Last year, an explosion devastated a large part of Beirut and shook the world in its wake, creating an atmosphere of uncertainty for the people of Lebanon, who faced the challenge of reconstructing a city once known as Paris of the east. But the efforts to recover from that calamity also paved the way for cross border collaborations in the region, which led to innovation that has set an example for sustainable growth of new urban spaces across the Middle East.

As countries and corporations joined forces to help Beirut get back to its feet, the United Nations partnered with Lebanese firms for an initiative called Rubble to Mountains, which called for recycling remains from buildings that were destroyed. More than a year after the destruction in Lebanon that also dealt a blow to its economy, a firm is showcasing how material like glass, rocks and plastic from structures that perished, can be used for construction of new cityscapes.

Displaying its achievement of making park benches and other furniture for public spaces from 300,000 tonnes of demolition waste, Development Inc. pitched sustainable construction at Dubai Expo. It showed how patented ROGP tech can be used to convert plastic and glass, previously un-recyclable, into material that is durable and can also be repurposed in the future.

Plastic waste can be transformed into anything from dustbins and irrigation channels to tiles and paver blocks, using the cost-effective process, which consumes less energy. Meant to divert pollution away from oceans, the ROGP mechanism also avoids using cleansing methods for waste material, which require a lot of water.

This revolutionary procedure enables recycling of mixed plastics, by using silica from shattered glass, to bind them together into a new material, that can be used in diverse settings. Other than creating an outdoor infrastructure for residents of a city, the product of ROGP processing can also lay the foundation for affordable housing.