Tasikmalaya · since 2025

Nothing isjust waste.

From discarded materials to shared possibilities. Broken tiles from a family depot in Tasikmalaya, rebuilt by local makers into the benches and sorting units a neighbourhood asked for.

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Unsellable stock, 2026Look again →

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What this is

REINCYCLE rebuilds leftover building materials into small public infrastructure that residents of Kelurahan Cipawitra asked for, made by local hands and paid for by the job.

Close-up of tile fragments in several glazes laid in a tight mosaic inside a wooden frame. — A finished mosaic panel before the concrete sets: wood-grain, terrazzo and pale green fragments, edges down.· Workshop at the family depot, Tasikmalaya

( 01 )
Material
Unsellable tile, paving and brick from a family-run depot in Tasikmalaya. Sorted by condition; used only where it bears no load.
( 02 )
Method
Ask first. Build small. Let makers criticise the drawing. Test in place before handover.
( 03 )
Measure
Count what was built. Say plainly what has not been measured yet.

( 01 )The pile

If it can't be sold, is it useless?

Every building-materials depot has a corner for returns and breakage. Growing up around one, the founder had stopped seeing it. In 2025 he looked again: a tile with one chipped corner and a tile cracked through are both unsellable, but only one of them is finished.

A heap of broken ceramic tile pieces in grey, wood-grain and pale green glazes on a wooden plank; a hand reaches in from above. — Fig. 02Broken floor tiles from unsellable stock, tipped onto a plank for sorting. 2026.· Workshop at the family depot, Tasikmalaya

The transformation

the pilethe bench

A pile that nobody looked at.

Unsellable floor tile, sorted by condition. Sharp or crumbling pieces are rejected.

Look again.

Residents said there was nowhere to sit. The pile had a shape in it.

Steel first, then concrete.

A welded grid carries the load. The concrete is cast around it.

Then the tile.

Pieces are pressed flush into the wet mix. Tile is only ever the surface.

A bench.

Timber slats, sanded and varnished. Sat on for three days before handover.

( 02 )Asking first

Three things residents said. One thing we could not build.

Before any drawing, the project went to the kelurahan office and then to the lanes. Residents said the places for waste were too few and often full; that some waste was burned; that there were few places to sit. One resident asked for a night-watch post. Broken tile cannot build that well, and the founder said so to him in person.

01Too few disposal points, often full
02Some waste burned
03Few places to sit
04A night-watch post · declined

Two people sit cross-legged on a tiled floor; one holds a small microphone toward the other. A board behind them reads Pos Kamling RT01/04, Kel Cipawitra. — Fig. 04An interview on camera at the existing neighbourhood watch post (pos kamling) of RT 01/04, Kelurahan Cipawitra. Still from the project's video record.· Pos kamling RT 01/04, Kelurahan Cipawitra

The workshop

Made by hand, paid by the job.

Select a figure or the formwork to read a documented note.

About five local makers, paid per job.

The lane

In 2026, nine units stood in public areas.

Illustration. The count comes from project records and a letter from the kelurahan head; locations are not yet published. The pick-up delivery is on video from installation day.

( 05 )In use

A full bin is not proof of sorted waste.

Chairs were sat on for three days before handover. The founder has seen residents using both the bins and the chairs. That is observation, not measurement. Nobody has yet recorded how the bins are emptied, how well sorting holds, or whether less is burned.

Hands steady a steel-framed sorting unit with a tile-mosaic base and a sign reading Pilah sampah, jaga desa kita. — Fig. 10A sorting unit being set in place outside the kelurahan office. Still from the project's video record.· Kelurahan Cipawitra office

( 06 )What we don't know yet

The honest list.

Small projects earn trust by saying what they have not done. These are the gaps we are working to close, in the order we expect to close them. Since 2026 there is a written plan for recording each one; the figures themselves are not in yet.

01Weight of reclaimed material actually used
02Number of bins and chairs, separately, with locations
03Who empties the bins and how often
04Condition of all units after the rainy season

The map

The map is not finished.

Ways to get involved

Take part

If you have a pile like ours, or a neighbourhood like this one.

We are not raising money and we have no volunteer programme. We are interested in other depots with unsellable stock, kelurahan offices that want to try a unit, schools that want to study the process, and anyone who can help us measure what we built.