The alarming increase of plastic waste is a constant worry that affects the environment, wildlife and consequently, humans. Every year, millions of tons of plastic is accumulated and all of that takes around 500 years to decompose. Faced with this problem, the Argentinian researcher Rosana Gaggino from the National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET) and her team designed a process that recycles discarded plastic bottles turning them into construction “ecological bricks” (ladrillos ecológicos).

The manufacturing process is very simple because, unlike conventional bricks (made of cement and sand), it replaces the sand for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic particles.