The Ghana Science and Technology Explorer Prize (GSTEP) is a project aimed at promoting STEM education among junior high school pupils.

The initiative will create a platform for the youngsters, mostly in groups, to unleash their creativity in addressing societal challenges.

Team Alpha S is one of the teams participating in this year’s challenge, which is currently taking place in Greater Accra and the Ashanti Regions.

They have developed a prototype to deal with the plastic menace in many cities.

Patience Adjei, a member of the group, indicated that their innovation is tailored to giving a second life to plastic materials by converting them into plastic houses.

According to her, their project was influenced by the pollution being caused in their community by the indiscriminate dumping of plastics.

Speaking on Prime Morning with Asieduwaa Akumia on Tuesday, she further stated that with creativity and proper recycling processes, these waste materials would not have to be entirely done away with but could be remolded into other useful inventions.

Plastic, as common as it is, is a major problem that can alter habitats and natural processes, as plastic debris is found absolutely everywhere.

Although plastic is useful in almost every sector, such as building and construction, textiles, and packaging, its chemical substances can be detrimental to human health if not properly disposed of or recycled.

She said, “In order to bring that to reality, we’re going to gather plastics, melt them, and then also use them in molding bricks, which we will use to develop our building.”

“My team and I gathered the plastics in a saucepan, and with a source of heat, we melted the plastics. But someone will ask, If I build a house out of plastic, what if there is a fire outbreak? “So we planned on adding BFR, it is a chemical to make the brick fire resistant,” she said.

According to her, the house did not catch fire after testing, thus making it safe enough to accommodate people.

Patience Adjei indicated that through exploring the environment, one can identify the many problems in the community and develop solutions to them.

Patience therefore advises her peers out there to take an interest in investigating the world around them and finding wonderful solutions to the challenges they find.

GSTEP Project is organised by DreamOval Foundation in partnership with Challenge Works, Foundervine, MEST Africa, and DEXT Technology.