Have you ever noticed plastic waste everywhere in your community? Dr. Aboubacar Kampo has. He was living in Côte d'Ivoire, a country on the coast of West Africa, where plastic is a big environmental problem, compared with water and air pollution. Côte d'Ivoire's biggest city, Abidjan, produces more than 300 tons of plastic rubbish a day, and only about 5% is recycled. "How can we turn plastic into something useful?" Kampo wondered.
你有注意过社区里到处都是塑料垃圾吗？Aboubacar Kampo博士注意过。他当时住在西非海岸的科特迪瓦，与水和空气污染相比，塑料是一个巨大的环境问题。科特迪瓦最大的城市阿比让每天产生300多吨塑料垃圾，只有大约5%被回收。“我们怎样才能把塑料变得有用？”Kampo想知道。
So Kampo, who works for UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, googled, researched, and then noticed a company in Colombia, a country in South America. Plastic pollution is a problem there, too. Conceptos Plásticos, the Colombian company that Kampo read about online, recycles plastic waste and turns it into big, Lego-like bricks for building schools and houses.
因此，在联合国儿童基金会工作的Kampo在谷歌上搜索、研究，然后注意到了南美洲国家哥伦比亚的一家公司，在那里塑料污染也是一个问题。Kampo在网上读到的哥伦比亚公司Conceptos Plásticos回收塑料垃圾，并将其制成巨大的类似乐高的砖块，用于建造学校和房屋。
Next, Kampo went to Colombia to learn about the company in person. He toured schools that were built with its bricks and the factory where the bricks were made. "Conceptos Plásticos gave us a solution." Kampo said. He thought it could help with more than just the plastic problem. It could also improve children's education.
接下来，Kampo亲自前往哥伦比亚了解公司情况。他参观了用这种砖块建造的学校和造砖厂。Kampo说：“Conceptos Plásticos给了我们一个解决方案”。他认为这不仅有助于解决塑料问题，还可以改善儿童的教育。
According to UNICEF, 1.6 million children in Côte d'Ivoire don't go to school. One reason is that there aren't enough classrooms. For kids who do go to school, classrooms are often very crowded. Kids often sit on the floor and can't stand up because there isn't room to move around.
根据联合国儿童基金会的数据，科特迪瓦有160万儿童没有上学，其中一个原因是教室不够。对于那些上学的孩子来说，教室往往非常拥挤。孩子们经常坐在地板上不能站起来，因为没有活动的空间。
In 2018, UNICEF built its first classrooms in Abidjan, using bricks produced in Colombia by Conceptos Plásticos. Right away, the local education improved a lot. People couldn't believe it at the beginning, that the classrooms were made of plastic. But now all the parents want their children in these classrooms. By the end of 2021 UNICEF had built 528 classrooms in Côte d'Ivoire. The new Conceptos Plásticos factory in Abidjan will soon be producing bricks from rubbish collected in children's playgrounds and on the beach.
2018年，联合国儿童基金会在阿比让使用哥伦比亚Conceptos Plásticos生产的砖块建造了第一间教室。很快，当地的教育有了很大的改善。人们一开始都不敢相信，教室是用塑料做的。但现在所有的家长都希望他们的孩子在这些教室里。截至2021年底，联合国儿童基金会在科特迪瓦建造了528间教室。阿比让新的Conceptos Plásticos工厂很快将用儿童游乐场和海滩上收集的垃圾生产砖块。
The environmental influence is huge. Kampo says it takes about five and a half tons of plastic and just a few weeks to build a classroom. Unlike traditional building, no cement is needed. "It's just a hammer and those bricks." he added.
环境影响巨大。Kampo说，建造一间教室大约需要五吨半的塑料和几周的时间。与传统建筑不同，不需要水泥。“就是一把锤子和那些砖块。”他补充道。
