Plastic bricks are coming: cheaper and more insulating than traditional ones

The Experimental Center for Affordable Housing (CEVE), a research center in the city of Córdoba (Argentina), is where this innovation was developed, along with many other innovations related to the reuse of plastic materials. The team of CEVE architect and director Rosa Gaggino,Bricks made of disposable PET bottles crushed in a special millit is then incorporated into a cement mix.

“The manufacturing process is simple, similar to concrete blocks, but in this case the sand is replaced with plastics that are crushed until they are three millimeters in size,” Gaggino told the newspaper La Nación. Patented in 2006, it emerged at the institute 24 years ago to cooperate in reducing environmental pollution.

Among the main advantages, Gaggino says, “it is more heat insulating than ordinary terracotta bricks, because With a wall 15 centimeters thick, the same results are obtained as a 30 centimeters thick wall made of ordinary bricks”.

In addition, he stated that all tests on compression, bending, fire, weathering, moisture and frost resistance were carried out in the laboratory, “all with satisfactory results, with which it is possible to obtain the thermal compliance certificate of this component.” .

Gaggino stressed out A PET brick is made with 20 disposable bottlesThis highlights the environmental importance of the project. They’re finished with portland cement as the binder, “plus a chemical additive that increases the adhesion of plastic particles,” he added.

Construction and management technologies are transferred from CEVE and training is provided to local and provincial governments, public and private institutions, cooperatives and non-governmental organizations on the application of their technologies. Thanks to these transfers and 50 trainings, Houses were built in the cities of Junín, Buenos Aires, Mendoza and Altagracia.

Another manufacturer in the USA

But these Argentine bricks aren’t the only bricks on the planet made from plastic. An American company, Byblock, also produces blocks from this material, which is characterized by ease of processing.

The manufacturer has created modular machines that are easy to transport performing the entire crushing and compaction process. This means they can be installed almost anywhere, from businesses to government buildings. produce bricks on site.

One of the reasons for this versatility is that the plastics used no cleaning or sorting required.

In this way, every ton of plastic obtained from waste is used to produce one ton of plastic bricks.

ByBlock brickmaker has reached an agreement to implement its technology in the Boise metropolitan area in Idaho. Thus, the agreement will continue to run until: 72 tons of plastic It was sourced from local landfills to produce these recycled blocks.

However, plastic is undoubtedly proving to be an important raw material in the construction industry. New applications are discovered every day. In some cases these are experimental prototypes such as Trashpresso. This mobile recycling plant can: turn plastic bottles into tiles for homes and buildings. The machine uses solar energy to realize the whole process.

Another example is the use of plastics in road pavements, if not buildings. A Scottish company has launched an asphalt mix called MR6, which reduces the bitumen used in conventional asphalt production by 10%.

Finally, there are already companies that use the plastic in disposable coffee cups to produce insulating walls or separation screens.

All these situations, from slabs to plastic bricks, common denominator of the circular economy. Namely, the pursuit of zero waste in production and consumption to achieve a more sustainable economy.

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Environment department contact address:crisclimatica@prensaiberica.es