DIY: Create Building Materials from Trash

We explore how to combine single-use bag plastic waste and other plastic films with any fine granular material (like beach sand), and heat them to create molded materials that can be used as robust construction materials.

It’s very inexpensive, can be done by anyone with minimal tools and investment, and the utilizes no/low-value trash that would otherwise be burnt, buried, or blown about. This reduces the volume of microplastics in the environment, us, and fellow animals.

This website teaches you how to make “plasticrete,” and connects us with each other’s ideas of what we can make and how to better develop the process!

By layering sheets of thermoplastic film around a mold and immersing it in hot sand, the layers will be fused together, molding them into a single, solid piece of plastic while employing temperatures low enough to avoid off-gas pollution, or any real chemical or structural change to the material. This allows the material to keep many of its best qualities (durability, corrosion resistance, bio-inertness, and high thermal/electrical insulation), while completely converting its purpose.