In Spain the Escuela Politecnica Superior de Linares, part of the University of Jaen, is developing bricks made from waste paper, which could bring about both economic and environmental benefits by utilising as a raw material something which is otherwise dismissed as waste.
The scientists have collected all the cellulose waste which a paper factory produces as well as the sludge which comes from purifying sewage and combined it in the clay which is used in construction. The addition of the waste makes a product which has a low thermal conductivity so acts as a good insulator.
As the bricks are partly made from organic material, this lowers the fuel usage needed in their manufacturing and the furnace time they require in production. The bricks are still in their prototype stage and are small, although some tests have already been carried out on larger dimension bricks with similar results.
