Chemical Technology student at the National University of Lesotho (NUL), Kabelo Moroeng, has been cooking up something interesting in the lab. He’s taking thrown-away plastic: the bags and bottles…and quartz from sandstone… and turning then into material good enough to make strong tiles.

That’s right! The future of floors and wall wall tiles might just be found in your gabbage bin!
_________________
Brought to you by NUL Innovation Hub [Where Academia Meets Industry] & MILCO [a store that sells only Lesotho products at Sefika Complex]. MILCO was founded by NUL Innovation Hub!

Kabelo was guided by his supervisor, Mr. Innocent Hapazari and, oh boy, did he get his hands dirty.

His main ingredient was the plastic waste collected right from the NUL Roma campus and quartz from sandstones. He sorted the plastic, cleaned it up, and then got to the exciting part:

Melting it down.

“Think of it like baking,” he said. “But instead of flour and sugar, the recipe is shredded plastic and quartz.”

He was not making one simple type of tile. No. He approached it like a master chef perfecting a special dish. He made up a few different trials.

Some were made purely from one type of plastic, like the flexible Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) used in bags, or the tougher Polypropylene (PP) which makes containers.

Then, he created his special, “improved” type.

For these, he blended different plastics together and added a special mix of ingredients—fly ash and graphite powder—to really boost their performance.

So, the big question: how do these plastic tiles actually hold up? Kabelo put them through a series of tough tests, and the results are seriously impressive.

Here’re some of the tests he did. They were much more.

The first is…Toughness.

You want a tile that can handle a knock.

Maybe you drop a pot in the kitchen or move furniture around. Kabelo’s improved materials showed fantastic ability to bend, taking a hit without breaking.

“That’s exactly what you need in a busy home,” he said.

Then there’s Water Resistance.

This is where the material truly shines. Traditional clay tiles can be thirsty, drinking up water over time. This can make them weak and damage them.

Kabelo’s products, however, are practically waterproof. They absorb a little less than 0.20% of their weight in water. Imagine that for your bathroom, kitchen, or even outdoor tiles that laugh in the face of moisture and spills.

They’re great for our climate and a game-changer for areas that can be affected by moisture.

Another cool feature? They’ve got no Efflorescence.

What’s on this part of the universe is that?

You know those not-so-good-looking white, salty stains that sometimes bleed through traditional bricks or tiles?

That’s Efflorescence!

That’s a non-issue here. These materials stay looking clean with no ugly marks to spoil their looks.

Now, comes the one area that needs a bit more work: Fire Resistance.

Because they contain plastic, the materials are obviously no fans of extreme, direct heat.

While his improved tiles, strengthened with graphite and fly ash, held up much better than the basic versions, they’re not yet ready to be used around a fireplace.

Kabelo is the first to say this is the key area for future research and improvement. But for the vast majority of applications in your home, their performance is already very promising.
________________
Brought to you by NUL Innovation Hub [Where Academia Meets Industry] & MILCO [a store that sells only Lesotho products at Sefika Complex]. MILCO was founded by NUL Innovation Hub