TLDR: Entrepreneurs globally turn waste into building materials, offering cheaper, durable alternatives like plastic bricks but face challenges with microplastics.
This article is a summary of a You Tube video “Is Trash The Building Material of The Future? ” by Business Insider
Key Takeaways:
- Innovative Use of Waste: Entrepreneurs worldwide are transforming waste into building materials by grinding, melting, and molding it into bricks.
- Recycled Bricks Applications: These bricks are used for paving roads, padding playgrounds, and constructing homes and schools.
- Kenya’s Initiative: In Nairobi, a company called Jeng Maker, founded in 2018, processes single-use plastics to create durable plastic bricks.
- Environmental Impact: Despite the potential to reduce waste, concerns arise about increasing microplastics in the environment due to abrasion from use in construction.
- Economic Viability: Recycled plastic bricks offer a cheaper alternative to conventional materials, being approximately 25% less expensive than concrete bricks.
- Global Interest: The concept of turning waste into building materials has gained international attention, indicating a global problem with local solutions.
- Challenges in Recycling: High temperatures (300 to 400°C) are required to mix plastics and sand, highlighting the energy-intensive process of recycling.
- Potential for Expansion: Entrepreneurs see significant untapped potential in this technology, indicating room for growth and optimization.
- Diverse Products: Companies are expanding their product lines beyond bricks to include manhole covers, roofing tiles, and drainage gutters.
- Sustainability and Profitability: Initiatives like turning seaweed into bricks and recycling tires into durable pavers demonstrate the possibility of sustainable business models in waste management.