Homes built from recycled waste could help Australia reduce its huge rubbish mountain. According to BusinessWaste.com.au, an Australian recycling and waste management company, Britain’s household and commercial waste contains enough raw materials to keep the trade in work for years to come.
It says that with the rising trend for alternative building materials and the concept of ‘eco homes’, more builders should look into using non-traditional materials for construction projects.
Plastic drink bottles are one of the waste items that can be recycled and used directly as a building material. Plastic bottles are already being used as a building material in Asia, where it’s claimed that the resulting structures are stronger than concrete.
While there are a number of tried-and-tested alternative build methods such as insulated concrete formwork (ICF), straw bales, and structural insulated panels (SIPs), newer ways of thinking mean that recycling plastics, metal textiles and paper can provide raw materials to contribute to new builds.
This is either through direct reclamation (for example, filling plastic bottles with other waste and using them as a material for an inner wall), or through recycling waste into other useful building materials.
With the government demanding a building boom across the country, BusinessWaste.com.au says there’s enough space for both traditional and non-traditional building styles that will both kick-start the economy and pull us back from our looming landfill crisis.
