3 Trashy Ideas For Building Greener Cities

3 Trashy Ideas For Building Greener Cities

posted by: Beth Buczynski 19 hours ago

In a recent post, I highlighted a Swiss study that questioned whether or not recycling is really the greenest fate for plastic waste.

The reader response was passionate and varied, but one comment stood out: Care2 member Julieta S. wrote, "I think we should start making garbage bricks... some would stand for more than hundreds [of] years... right? (please steal this idea)."

While I had never thought of making bricks from trash, it seemed like a sensible way to build green structures using the ultra-durable plastic waste that's causing our planet so much trouble.

Here's what I found...thanks for the idea Julieta!

1. "Ecological Bricks" for Low-Income Housing in Argentina

Argentina's Experimental Center for Economical Housing (Centro Experimental de la Vivienda Económica – CEVE) has developed a brick made of used food (primarily candy) wrappers and plastic (primarily PET) soda and water bottles.

The raw materials are supplied by Córdoba's selective collection plant, collection points in schools and government agencies, plus rejects from the local bottling plant.

The plastics are ground up and then mixed with Portland cement and chemical additives to make the bricks (pictured above) and something CEVE calls "brick plates." The CEVE project hires unemployed youth (between 18-24 years old) to make the bricks. The participants can use the bricks to build their own mini-houses (The Temas Blog).

2. "Byfusion" Machine Makes Building Blocks

It took a New Zealand man 10 years to put together a prototype recycling machine that could turn raw plastic into useful building materials, but now, the "Byfusion" machine is spitting out the building blocks of a multimillion-dollar business.

Peter Lewis' machine can swallow most types of raw plastic and turn it into compacted plastic bricks or other shapes.

A new brick, formed from over 20 pounds of plastic, emerges from the recycling machine every 30-45 seconds.
The rock-hard bricks can be used for garden retaining or landscaping walls, and have other potential uses including shock absorbers behind crash barriers (Otago Daily Times).

3. Interlocking Polli-Bricks Made From Plastic Bottles

Earlier this year, Taiwan jumped to the front page of green websites all over the world when it was announced that a building commissioned by Far Eastern Group was built using bricks made from 1.5 million plastic botles.

These Polli-Bricks create an interlocking shape that's light weight and structural at the same time. When connected, Polli-Bricks almost look like a honeycomb. The building, dubbed the EcoARK, can be taken apart and reassembled at another side with relative ease, and was and later donated to city government in Taipei.

Do you know of other cool building techniques that utilize waste? Share them in a comment!

Read more: plastic, argentina, waste, recycling, taiwan, trash, new zealand, environment & wildlife, green building

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comments16 comments add your comment

Victoria S. says
Sep 30, 2010 7:35 AM
If it were properly sealed, Plastic can be molded to mimic every thing in nature. Think of all the Forests we could save by no longer cutting them down for building materials. We could properly maintain them by means that have been proven to work for sustainability. All this information exists now, but will not be funded by our Congress or House that are 80% Bought by Wealth that do not want any changes to take place as long as they can keep making huge profits. We have to do this ourselves in our own communities and not wait for them to implement any of this kind of innovation. I have already gotten almost everyone where I work to collect the PVC plastic gift cards and store credits to keep then out of our land fills. If everyone suggest this to the business as a way to be "greener", the companies would remove 700 tons a year of this product that will leach out into our water and cause illness. We The People have to be an underground source of change for the better for us all, while they will do anything for money we will have less use for their money or their useless overpriced services. We can think of ways!

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Michelle Staples says
Sep 30, 2010 6:40 AM
I can see this leading to a whole new industry of ships gathering up the waste in the middle of oceans. Right on!

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nancy sands says
Sep 30, 2010 6:37 AM
GOOD IDEAS!

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Mike Masley says
Sep 30, 2010 6:06 AM
The idea is good, but not sure I would want to live around all of that plastic.

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Mark S. says
Sep 30, 2010 6:04 AM
The best solution (from an environmental POV) would of course be to stop using plastics altogether. And I would hate for a solution like this to lead to even further use of fossil fuels. That being said, it is a brilliant use of the plastics we've already made.

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Kate Kenner says
Sep 30, 2010 6:03 AM
the goal seems like it should be to stop making so many products that are bad for the planet yet that will not happen it seems. It seems like an idea that should be seriously considered. I am tired of picking up plastic bottles and bags every day (I know that bags are not included in this plan.) Somehow I don't think flying them around Pluto is a very good plan, Nyack. There is enough trash out there. Thank goodness in you are not on the committee to dispose of trash.

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Michele Hill says
Sep 30, 2010 5:35 AM
i do see what you mean, this is a great idea, if its safe, BUT what are the numbers?? i know that i think its a 1,3,7 are safe for us to use. the rest are not. even though they sell it to us, like rubbermaid, etc. i'm talking about on the bottom of the containers, anything that is not them numbers and they will leach into our bodies, so if it gets to hot, the fumes, geuss where their going? into us, lungs, etc. if you have a new born, and he gets asthma, Hmm i'd start wondering where he got it. or if you were pregnant and living in that building, and your baby comes out with respitory problems i'd start to wonder exactly how this came about. Don't get me wrong!! i LOVE the fact that they are reusing the plastic, and a huge amount of its going somewhere, but are they safe numbers for us to live in?? if they are, i'm all for it!! **big smile**

Comment

I saw a program last night on CNBC about using plastic water bottles to make shirts, rugs, and other stuff here in South carolina. BMW uses plastic water bottles recycled to make their car seats.