SGP logo

Better Buildings
Blue lorry icon

1. TRADITIONAL MATERIALS
Green tree icon

2. ALTERNATIVE MATERIALS
Orange pencil icon

3. DESIGN A LOW CARBON BUILDING
Recycled plastic bricks
SGP Plus icon

RECYCLED PLASTICS

Plastics are one of the best materials to try and recycle.

Some architects have started to use recycled plastic to make buildings.

 

Image supplied by preciousplastic.com

Carbon indicator

ZERO CO2

LOTS OF CO2

> VIEW ANSWER

Interesting information

Recycling materials can be an effective way of reducing the amount of embodied carbon as we are using the material for a second time without using as much energy as it took to make it the first time.

Crushed plastic bottle
Bird feeder from recycled plastic bottle
Can you find something plastic that you could recycle to make something new?
Crushed plastic bottles

Plastic

building

blocks

Did you know?

One way to use recycled plastic to make buildings is to use it to make plastic building blocks.

To make plastic building blocks plastic bottles are heated and pressed together to form highly compacted blocks. Because of how they’re pressed together the process doesn’t even need any glue.

Fascinating facts

Plastic bottles wrapped in plastic

A plastic water bottle can take

over 400 years to decompose.

Single use plastics

A recent survey found that a total of as many as 15,000 single use

plastic items can be found in the homes on a typical UK street.

GO TO EARTH