--- title: "Startup Turns “Unrecyclable” Plastic Into Giant, Indestructible Construction Bricks" description: "What if we told you that you could literally build buildings out of plastic bags and water bottles?" date: "2022-02-24" modified: "2022-02-24" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/startup-turns-unrecyclable-plastic-into-giant-indestructible-construction-bricks" categories: - "Science & Energy" tags: - "plastic waste" - "plastics" - "recycling" - "the digest" --- # Startup Turns “Unrecyclable” Plastic Into Giant, Indestructible Construction Bricks ![What if we told you that you could literally build buildings out of plastic bags and water bottles?]() *\Image: ByFusion\* ## Block Heads What if we told you that you could construct entire buildings out of trashed plastic bags and water bottles? That future may be closer than you think, thanks to [new tech from ByFusion Global](), an LA-based startup that's developed a way for governments, companies, and communities to recycle previously "unrecyclable plastics" into huge, virtually indestructible bricks. Known as "ByBlocks," the cinderblockish bricks are made using a steam-based compacting method that, per ByFusion's website, "does not require any chemicals, additives, adhesives, or fillers." The lego-like bricks made by the ByFusion process are said to be construction-grade and indestructible. ## Plastic Urgency In [an interview with *Waste360*](), ByFusion CEO Heidi Kujawa said that the company received a Dow grant and has partnered with the Hefty trash bag company's EnergyBag recycling program to run a pilot program in Boise, Idaho that will give the community access to the Blocker system. Along with providing the tech, the pilot program is slated to help Boise residents divert up to 72 tons of otherwise unrecyclable plastics from the local landfill and has already used the blocks to build a bench in a city park, with more planned structures set to built in the coming years. https://twitter.com/DowPackaging/status/1494347957579259912 Though there's certainly room for criticism of the startup's partnership with a company that manufactures plastic bags and an organization integral to the [not-so-green financial industry](), there's no harm in ByFusion taking their money. And one thing's for sure: whoever figures out a way to implement this kind of system on a mass scale deserves the Nobel Prize. **READ MORE:** [Hard-To-Recycle Plastics Are Now Being Made Into Zero Waste “Concrete” Blocks]() \[*Apartment Therapy*\] **More plastic evil:** [*Researchers Find Microplastics Inside Newborn Babies*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()