OPEN-SOURCE:
RECYCLED BRICK
JAN 2020
PUBLIC RELEASE
1.5KG
RECYCLED PER BRICK
4MIN
TO MAKE
WHY DESIGN A RECYCLED BRICK?
Plastic pollution is a huge problem. Every minute a truckload of trash enters the ocean and it is estimated that 90% of this waste comes from low-income countries.
While at the same time 38% of the worlds carbon emissions come from the construction industry. With popular building materials such as concrete being carbon-intensive. It also leads to the destruction of the ocean floor through dredging for sand, and the destruction of the landscape to acquire more stone.
However, the world needs more buildings. According to a report by Habit for Humanity, as many as 1.6 billion people lack adequate housing. Not including the growing number of people every year being displaced by Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Forest Fires and Flooding.
That's a lot of homes needing to be built, and a lot of waste that needs to be recycled.
THE BRICK
The brick was designed over 4 months in collaboration with Precious Plastic in the Netherlands and was designed as a replacement to conventional masonry building while also acting as a more cost-effective and durable option than EcoBricks.
The brick aims to act as an affordable, accessible and durable alternative for low-income nations and countries affected by natural disasters.
Each brick sequesters 1.5kg of plastic waste and is made using Precious Plastic's open-source recycling machines. Allowing communities all over the world to gain access to the knowledge on how to create these bricks.
The bricks are currently in the final stages of development and we have released How to's in early 2020 but aim to continue development once funding has been acquired
You can stay up to date on the project by subscribing to our mailing list.
WHAT CAN BE BUILT?
The brick is designed to work alone as a load-bearing unit while also working alongside standard building methods such as timber and metal.
Each brick is designed to lock together like lego and is rapidly constructed with only a hammer. Making it more feasible for an inexperienced builder to build a strong and durable structure. Each brick is also hollow, reducing thermal bridging and creating better insulative properties than standard masonry construction.
To date, we have had only enough funding to design small structures such as demonstration pieces, and a bike shed. However, we believe in the right context the bricks could be used to provide low cost but high-quality WASH facilities, low-income housing, rapidly constructed post-disaster shelters and even earthquake-resistant public buildings.
Best of all, the bricks can be easily deconstructed and rebuilt in another location or orientation with little effort!
MAKE YOUR OWN BRICK
Now the first version of the brick is complete we have released all the how to's and information needed to make your own brick on Precious Plastics new opensource platform.
You can also learn why we designed such a brick by watching the video. Where you will discover the process we went through to create the design and the problems we still hope to solve in the near future!
