Enquiry about eco-bricks

Hello,

Curious to know if anyone has tried construction with gunny sacks packed with eco-bricks in order to divert plastic waste to construction.

Regards,
Ashish

Can you give us more information please?

What do you mean by eco-bricks? I can imagine several different possible bricks that could be called eco-bricks.

Compressed plastic waste is a cool idea, but I suspect it would be best for infill, not for load-bearing. There would be issues about how to plaster it to prevent sunlight degrading it, but that would be solvable with mesh.

Packed in sacks sounds like it would be loose and not stay in place or hold plaster. Pressed into "bricks" sounds more useful. An issue with waste plastic is that plastic can be many different materials with many different properties.

Thanks for your reply.

https://www.ecobricks.org/what/ is what I am talking about. Yes, load bearing is an issue.

Using extruder with the multi-layer plastic seems to be an issue because this plastic variety is too thin unlike high-grade plastics like PET etc.

It is my understanding that eco-bricks are 2-liter plastic soda bottles filled with shredded or grated plastic pieces.

While this may be a great way to use recycled plastic, I feel it is a poor solution because the plastic will degrade, then release all these pieces of shredded plastic back into the environment.

Ashish mentions putting them in a gunny sack.  I am not sure what a gunny sack is unless it is a burlap or canvas bag.  Will this material degrade as well?

More than anything else, this seems a "sequestration" method for other plastics (aside from artistic value). You could use the plastic bottles described in the links, OR, perhaps you might want to use ... earthbags!

As a thought exercise:

You could sequester a lot more plastic into an earthbag (seems easier to stuff than a plastic bottle), and then use it in scenarios where it might act as an insulation layer. To protect from sunlight, use underneath a roof covering, adding up to 4" of earthbag, air, and plastic for an insulation layer; possibly use it in walls as well, depending on wall construction. Use around the foundation of an outbuilding as an insulated skirt, which extends frost protection outwards from the immediate foundation itself (if you're in a cold area); then cover with dirt, gravel, etc. to again protect from sunlight.

Consider fire hazards and such in your application ... that's a lot of plastic ...

The site Ecobricks / how has a lot of information and also explains the programs that have been set up to keep the idea going.\
Its a big effort

Yes, this is a great idea and kind of what I was trying to express. Thank you.