{"id":4969,"date":"2026-02-16T09:00:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T10:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.angesfinanciers.org\/?p=4969"},"modified":"2026-02-20T08:40:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T08:40:38","slug":"mit-researchers-developing-process-to-make-houses-from-recycled-plastic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.angesfinanciers.org\/index.php\/2026\/02\/16\/mit-researchers-developing-process-to-make-houses-from-recycled-plastic\/","title":{"rendered":"MIT researchers developing process to make houses from recycled plastic"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Plastic<\/div>\n

Massachusetts Institute of Technology<\/a> researchers have made recycled plastic<\/a> into floor trusses for housing, arguing the waste stream could provide an abundant and sustainable<\/a> structural building material<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The US-based researchers 3D printed a functional, construction-grade element using a composite material they developed from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) plastic \u2013 mostly derived from discarded drinks bottles \u2013 mixed with glass fibres.<\/p>\n

In the future, they say the system could be used in place of wood for house frames, making residential building cheaper while avoiding the overexploitation of forests.<\/p>\n

“We’ve estimated that the world needs about 1 billion new homes by 2050,” said engineer and inventor AJ Perez, who led the project. “If we try to make that many homes using wood, we would need to clear-cut the equivalent of the Amazon rainforest three times over.”<\/p>\n

PET is “one of the most durable polymers”<\/strong><\/p>\n

To make the floor trusses, Perez and his collaborators 3D printed their polymer composite into a long rectangular element reinforced by an internal zigzag shape, similar to the structure of traditional wood and metal floor trusses.<\/p>\n

Four of these trusses were configured into a plywood-topped floor frame and bend-tested by placing concrete blocks on top.<\/p>\n

According to the researchers, the trusses only began to buckle and crack under more than 4,000 pounds (1,814 kilograms) of weight, exceeding US building standards.<\/p>\n

\"Close-up
MIT researchers have created recycled plastic floor trusses<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Perez, who is a research scientist within the MIT Office of Innovation<\/a>, also believes that the material is durable enough for structural use.<\/p>\n

“PET is one of the most durable polymers,” Perez told Dezeen. “The reason PET bottles are such a blight on the environment is that it takes approximately 450 years to break down naturally<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

“We see this as the cornerstone of durability for the built-world uses we have demonstrated.”<\/p>\n