4 ms·

When the concrete weathers, will the plastic in the bricks turn into micro-plastic?

Tagbert 4y ago
It will break down much more slowly as a solid object than as separate pieces of plastic. It will likely be painted or covered with a facing anyway.
- jahewson 4y ago
  Quality weatherproof paint is expensive and needs to be maintained. That’s going to have an impact on the cost. Plus if you ever want to modify the building you’ve got an environmental hazard on your hands.
zionic 4y ago
Yes, which is why this is a bad idea.
bragr 4y ago
Almost certainly.
penneyd 4y ago
The plastic has already been produced, so it's already an environmental problem, this repurposes it, one way or another it's going to break down and end up somewhere.
- User23 4y ago
  Plastic in a properly designed landfill doesn’t end up in people’s bloodstreams.
  - qayxc 4y ago
    The company operates in Africa, where all of the plastic is just lying around. Properly designed landfills don't exist in most of the world (Africa, Asia, most of South America).
    - User23 4y ago
      To me this sounds like people in most of the world are getting needlessly poisoned with microplastics when a technological solution exists. Why do I doubt there is going to be a successful non-profit helping build good landfills?
      - qayxc 4y ago
        Simple solutions aren't sexy enough. Heck, proper refuse collection service (garbage collection in the US) would be a start. See this report: https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/21134/waste_mgt_asean_summary.pdf https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/21134/... Rapid urbanisation and comparatively high poverty (lack of access to clean drinking water, so plastic bottles are used) lead to more and more waste without proper waste management catching up. Almost all plastic in the ocean comes from 10 rivers - 2 in Africa (Nile and Niger) the rest in Asia [0] [0] https://www.dw.com/en/almost-all-plastic-in-the-ocean-comes-from-just-10-rivers/a-41581484 https://www.dw.com/en/almost-all-plastic-in-the-ocean-comes-...

It will break down much more slowly as a solid object than as separate pieces of plastic. It will likely be painted or covered with a facing anyway.

jahewson 4y ago
Quality weatherproof paint is expensive and needs to be maintained. That’s going to have an impact on the cost. Plus if you ever want to modify the building you’ve got an environmental hazard on your hands.

zionic 4y ago

Yes, which is why this is a bad idea.

bragr 4y ago

Almost certainly.

penneyd 4y ago

The plastic has already been produced, so it's already an environmental problem, this repurposes it, one way or another it's going to break down and end up somewhere.

User23 4y ago
Plastic in a properly designed landfill doesn’t end up in people’s bloodstreams.
- qayxc 4y ago
  The company operates in Africa, where all of the plastic is just lying around. Properly designed landfills don't exist in most of the world (Africa, Asia, most of South America).
  - User23 4y ago
    To me this sounds like people in most of the world are getting needlessly poisoned with microplastics when a technological solution exists. Why do I doubt there is going to be a successful non-profit helping build good landfills?
    - qayxc 4y ago
      Simple solutions aren't sexy enough. Heck, proper refuse collection service (garbage collection in the US) would be a start. See this report: https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/21134/waste_mgt_asean_summary.pdf https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/21134/... Rapid urbanisation and comparatively high poverty (lack of access to clean drinking water, so plastic bottles are used) lead to more and more waste without proper waste management catching up. Almost all plastic in the ocean comes from 10 rivers - 2 in Africa (Nile and Niger) the rest in Asia [0] [0] https://www.dw.com/en/almost-all-plastic-in-the-ocean-comes-from-just-10-rivers/a-41581484 https://www.dw.com/en/almost-all-plastic-in-the-ocean-comes-...