Playgrounds Created from Reusable Items Tackle India’s Waste Problem

Five students from the Indian Institutes of Technology have created a startup that uses scrap waste to build playgrounds for the country’s children.

The aptly named Anthill Creations has gone to four different cities in India for nine separate tasks, using nothing but discarded car tyres to construct playgrounds and libraries for the country’s youth. So far, the company has used 830 waste tyres in their projects, making India’s one million tonnes of discarded tyres a little lighter.

Anthill Creations chose tyres for their low cost, slow decay, vast number in the country. Tyres that end up in landfills are incinerated, a process that pollutes the surrounding environment. Their very first project, a playground for the Disha Sheema Care Centre, was completed in 2014 and gave the company’s founders an optimistic outlook for future projects.

Not only is Anthill Creations eco-friendly and cost-efficient, but it also recruits volunteers to help build the structures and successfully attracts big company sponsors who give them discarded tyres. Now that Indian communities are opening up to the idea of recycling the way the company proposes, it’s quickly gaining the approval of the public. The children that play on these playgrounds are also learning the value of repurposing old items while having fun.

Anthill Creations hopes to spread their message to the borders of India, and perhaps beyond. Recycling salvageable materials are more important now than ever before.