Cameroonians Transform Plastic Waste into Sustainable Roofing Tiles

Cameroon continues to face a severe plastic pollution challenge. Despite a 2014 ban on the import and marketing of non-biodegradable plastics, large volumes of plastic waste from households, shops and markets accumulate in urban areas where waste collection systems often struggle to keep up with increasing consumption.

In Douala, the capital of Cameroon's Littoral region, plastic waste frequently piles up in public spaces such as markets, streets and roundabouts. During heavy rainfall, discarded plastics are washed into gutters and drainage systems, blocking waterways and exacerbating flooding. As waste builds up, some residents burn plastics to reduce the growing piles, releasing toxic fumes into the air. 

This practice is dangerous to health. ‘In some sections of the market and on roads sometimes, the air becomes almost unbreathable because of burning waste. I am scared of the effect it has on my health,’ Jenny Pugwe, a lifelong resident, told FairPlanet. Amidst this plastic waste problem is a recycling initiative that transforms plastics into roofing tiles. Using machines to crush plastics together with a given amount of sand, a new product that provides shelter is produced, providing a sustainable way to reduce plastic waste which is detrimental to the environment.      

Detriments of Burning Plastics

Incineration of plastic waste in an open field is a major source of air pollution. Research has shown that the process releases toxic gases like dioxins, furans, mercury into the atmosphere, increasing the risk of heart and skin diseases, respiratory problems, such as asthma, and causing nausea or headaches. 

According to Cameroon’s National Strategy to Combat Plastic Pollution, waste from the use of plastics constitutes about 10% of the 6,000,000 tonnes of municipal waste produced annually, meaning about 600,000 tonnes per year. Only about 20% of it is being recycled, leaving the population at a great risk of plastic pollution and consequently, numerous health risks. With a growing population of over 30 million and a lack of structural norms to tackle the plastic pollution problem, the private sector has taken up the challenge.

How Discarded Waste Becomes Shelter

A local NGO called AMABO ‘African Market And Business Opening’ is working on changing the plastic waste reality of Cameroon. The idea of the enterprise started when a Cameroonian became curious about roofing tiles on houses during a visit to Vienna, Austria. After learning that they were made from recycled plastics, he developed the idea to bring this innovation to his home country together with Dr Sonja Sagmeister, an Austrian citizen. Dr Sagmeister then founded AMABO Tiles in Cameroon. Today, AMABO uses specialized German machinery for turning plastic waste into durable roofing tiles.

With an office in Douala and a factory in Tiko, South West of Cameroon, the team has managed to recycle over 3,000 tons of high-density polyethylene plastics from the streets since 2020. ‘We use plastics like shampoo bottles and old chairs to produce our roofing tiles. We collect plastics from the streets and also from car dealers,’ said Eric Donald Tamba, Sales Manager at AMABO. ‘Burning of plastics is a regular in Cameroon and this practice is very detrimental to health, that is why we use a clean recycling process whereby 70 per cent of sand is mixed with 30 per cent of plastics and compressed to produce roofing tiles,’ he added. The process involves collecting and sorting plastic waste, compressing and mixing it with sand, and moulding everything into roofing tiles.

According to Mr Tamba, one roofing tile is 2.5cm thick and weighs around 4.5 kg. AMABO uses 25 to 50 tonnes of plastic waste per month for their tile production. The tiles are sold nationwide and producers say the roofing tiles are shatterproof, lightweight and have been exported to other African countries like Equatorial Guinea and chad. 

The roofing tiles provide thermal insulation to homes. As discussed in the study from the UNEP, the use of air conditioners in buildings contribute significantly to global energy consumption, and improving building insulation is considered an important strategy for reducing energy demand and emissions from cooling and heating, thus reducing global temperatures. 

To scale production while creating jobs for others, over 20 Internally Displaced Persons who lost their livelihoods due to the crisis in the two English-speaking regions of the country have been employed to work at the factory in Tiko.

Mr. Tamba however says the enterprise greatly depends on external funding from Austrian development aid and the Austrian development bank in order to stay afloat. Their initiative which addresses SDGs 7, 9, 11 and 13 won the European Rising Star Award from the European Union in 2020 and 2021 respectively.

Structural Challenges in Embracing Innovation

Transforming 25 to 50 tonnes of waste plastic per month into sustainable roofing tiles is a great success. However, these numbers amount to 300 to 600 tonnes recycled plastic waste per year, which is only about 0.05 to 0.1 per cent of the 600,000 tonnes the country produces annually.

To increase the positive effect of the solution would require scaling the production significantly and this encounters several structural challenges. Mr Arrey Jason, an environmental engineer from Cameroon’s National Observatory on Climate Change, told FairPlanet that scaling up the production of recycled plastic tiles, especially in a country like Cameroon, would require significant investment and infrastructure development. ‘The country faces significant challenges in waste management, including inadequate infrastructure, limited financial resources, and weak enforcement of existing regulations, with very low recycling rates for collected waste.’

The tile production process relies on imported German machinery, meaning that scaling the production would require significant investment. Moreover, spare parts for the machinery do not circulate on local markets. If the need  arose to replace a part, production would have to halt till it is imported. 

Additionally, the production process requires high thermal temperature and therefore a lot of energy. Frequent power outages  not only delay work and  reduce production efficiency, but also encourage the regular use of pollution-intensive diesel generators.

‘Investing in alternative energy infrastructure like solar panels would be necessary to ensure consistent and reliable power supply for continued operation and ultimately reduced environmental impact’, Mr Jason told FairPlanet.

Furthermore, the production process may pose health risks to workers. As Mr Jason told FairPlanet, handling shredded micro- and nanoplastics increases the likelihood of exposure to chemicals that can cause both internal and external harm. He added that workers involved in plastic processing may be at an even greater risk of occupational exposure to hazardous plastic particles and the chemicals they contain.

These risks therefore need to be addressed, especially when scaling up production. This can be achieved through strict occupational safety measures, such as effective ventilation, personal protective equipment and exposure monitoring. In a bid to strengthen recycling initiatives, the government of Cameroon through the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development officially launched a national waste exchange electronic platform on February 12, 2026, designed to transform millions of tonnes of discarded waste into valuable industrial materials. During the launch, Minister Hélé Pierre encouraged the plastic waste recycling initiative among citizens: ‘We have now managed to put in place a platform that ensures someone’s waste becomes material for others. We are going to see gains in both health and finance.’

However,  significantly reducing Cameroon’s plastic waste in a truly sustainable manner will require more than innovations in recycling. Scaling up solutions like AMABO’s roofing tiles production, as well as other initiatives requires stronger worker protection standards, access to stable and clean energy, and a regulatory and investment environment that provides more support. Despite first strides made by the government and private sector to resolve the recurrent plastic waste issue in the country, poor waste management techniques and weak enforcement of existing policies still remain huge challenges, crippling plastic waste recycling initiatives nationwide.