Cool Ways Your Recyclables are Being Turned into Building Materials

In recent years, recycled building materials have become increasingly popular in the world of construction and home design. From glass to newspaper, your recyclables are being turned into a wide range of unique and useful building materials. Here's a closer look at some of the latest advancements.

Recycled Glass

Recycled glass has been repurposed into many different materials for construction projects. From asphalt to glass bricks to fiberglass insulation, it’s a versatile material known for its durability. In home design, recycled glass can be used to create?decorative tiles. These tiles can be used anywhere normal ceramic tiles would be installed - kitchen backsplashes, shower walls, even pool floors. The best aspect of using recycled glass tiles is that they create a distinct appearance that other materials don't offer.

Recycled glass can also be used in large-scale products like?countertops?and flooring to give a decorative finish.

Newspaper Wood

Newspaper wood?turns paper back into wood. To form this material, many sheets of paper are glued together then rolled and compressed into solid logs. When a newspaper wood log is cut, the layers of paper mimic the growth rings of a tree and therefore resemble the aesthetics of real wood. Newspaper wood can be treated like most other wood products by cutting, milling, sanding, and finishing with paint or varnish.

Ecobricks

Ecobricks?are made directly from plastic waste pollution to reduce the harmful effect that plastic has on the environment. Ecobricks are plastic bottles that are filled with small pieces of plastic waste to create a solid plastic brick. These bricks can then be used to construct buildings or architectural elements in your yard.

Rubber Tires

Tires take 50-80 years to break down in a landfill, but they are highly useful when recycled into building materials. Shredded or chipped tire rubber can be used as a lightweight and flexible fill material in construction projects like highway embankments and retaining walls.

The same shredded rubber can be used as mulch in landscaping and gardening. Recycled tire rubber is also frequently used to create impact-absorbing surfaces for playgrounds, sports fields, and athletic tracks.

There are many interesting and inventive ways that your recyclables are being turned into building materials. As the construction industry continues to strive for lower carbon emissions, we’re sure to see more sustainable building materials develop in the coming years.