City makes bricks out of volcanic ash and plastic to rebuild following volcano eruption
Marie Donlon | January 21, 2020
Officials are combining ash with sand, cement and discarded plastic to form about 5,000 bricks per day. Source: AFPIn the aftermath of a recent volcano eruption in the Philippines, residents are using a volcanic by-product along with plastic waste to rebuild damaged and destroyed structures there.
Residents of the city Binan have been collecting the volcanic ash residue from the recently erupted Taal volcano and have been submitting it to the Binan City Materials and Recovery Facility (MRF) where workers are combining the volcanic ash with a mixture of discarded plastics, cement and sand to create sturdy bricks for rebuilding homes, schools and other buildings in the city destroyed or damaged by the volcanic eruption.
The MRF workers are able to manufacture as many as 5,000 bricks each day, according to reports. Considering that the area experiences frequent seismic activity as well as significant plastic waste pollution, materials are reportedly never in short supply.
Building with unusual materials, mainly, plastic waste, is daily becoming common practice as the world struggles with how to prevent its accumulation in landfills and ultimately the world’s oceans. As such, innovators and researchers from all over the world are finding unexpected use cases for plastic waste.
A factory in the African country of Côte d'Ivoire is turning plastic waste into building materials for schools while a Canadian company has recently constructed a hurricane-proof home that contains more than 600,000 discarded soda and water bottles. Similarly, an environmentalist has built a plastic village on the island of Bocas del Toro in Panama. The so-called Plastic Bottle Village includes structures such as homes, a dungeon, a castle, an educational center and a museum — all of which are composed of discarded plastic waste.
Re-inventing ancient Roman technology (pumice in concrete)?
Good, get rid of two things they don't want and make something useful. I hope it works!
Anything that can reuse the plastic build up in our dumps is very welcome.
These days I would recommend cities producing the plastic bricks and have a blow torch method of joining them together to make water tight flood walls around property, city blocks, beach front and river coast lines.
I would consider solid plastic walls far better than cheap wood privacy fences that require constant repair and replacement.
Would require engineers to provide methods to strengthen standing walls when the water starts getting deep.
I wonder if they could be used to construct a sort of barge to float the cars of the home owners? Would they be strong enough for driveways and house foundations?
I think plastic is more of a problem than everyone thinks.
Beside the complications with ocean life and birds or all wild life for that matter, I believe that it is unsafe for humans and all life on the Planet. From the pollution during the manufacturing process to the packaging of products (foods or other wise) to the disposal. I think that many health problems (In MANY species on this planet) are possibly related to the invent of plastic.
When I was young, most food products were packaged in glass.(meaning: Jelly, jams, mayo, etc.) Glass is easy to clean, less porous to hide microbes and bacteria. Plastic is man made product made with chemicals (some man made) to be inexpensive, light weight & durable. Plastic can leach small amounts of these chemicals during use possibly leading to health issues after prolonged use.
I believe in re-purposing waist materials instead of burying it or burning it. All are bad. (out of sight-out of mind mentality). Re-purposing is the best thing to do but, how safe is it? Just my thoughts.