Would you live in a house made out of bottles? No, for real. Especially if it means getting around the high cost of real estate in Ghana? Paul Coffie and Toa House have made that dream come true.

Toa is Ashanti Twi for a bottle. As direct as translations go, Toa House is literally Bottle House. The affordable structures are made primarily out of sand and plastic bottles.

The idea for Toa House came to Paul after his stint at a waste recycling company he joined right after school. He suggested innovative and eco-friendly applications for the bottles beyond just exporting such as making tiles, roofing sheets, and building houses. But as it is with the crazy dope ideas, his bosses didn’t bite.

He took matters into his own hands and hopped to Kenya where he learned from another company that was also building affordable houses with plastic. 6-months later, Toa House was born.

Fast forward to about 3 years later, Paul and his team are hard at work on the Toa Village. Toa aims to become the leading provider of affordable homes in Ghana and Africa. The only major hurdle now is changing people’s mindsets about living in a brick and mortar house, which is like everywhere you go in urban melting pots like Accra.