RenewBlocks
Problem
High-rise developers face high foundation steel costs due to the heavy dead load of traditional stone blocks. Lightweight alternatives, like ceramic blocks, are brittle, leading to a 10-15% material loss during truck transport. A logical alternative is mixing lightweight plastic waste into cement. However, plastic and cement repel each other. When temperatures change, the plastic expands faster than the cement, cracking the block from the inside out.
Solution
We manufacture a hollow-core masonry block using rigid municipal plastic waste, incinerator bottom ash, and limestone dust. We bypass the chemical incompatibility of plastic and cement using a cold-mix mineral binder that acts as a microscopic mechanical cage, locking the plastic chunks in place so they cannot expand. We cure the blocks in 24 hours using industrial carbon dioxide (CO2) gas instead of a standard 28-day water cure.
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