No matter how eco-conscious we try to be, single-use plastics are impossible to avoid.

You can swap out freezer bags with re-usable containers, give up cling film and switch to beeswax food wraps, swap plastic straws for metal ones but some single-use plastics are really difficult to work around due to costly and/or inaccessible alternatives.

Enter - Ecobricks

Genuine Ecobricks are a lot more than plastic stuffed into a plastic bottle. They are logged, validated and a cradle-to-cradle solution.

Ecobricks enable us to take personal responsibility for the plastic that we've consumed by keeping it out of industrial systems, securing it out of the environment, and putting it to good use in modules and earth constructions.

You've got the basic concept: it is plastic stuffed into a bottle. But Ecobricks need to meet a number of criteria before they can be considered a useful and sustainable building 'brick'.

First off, the plastic it contains must be clean and dry. This is because any organic matter within the bottle can decompose, create carbon dioxide gas and eventually explode the brick. Dead Ecobricks are a waste of time and good intentions.

Next, the amount of plastic within the bottle must reach a minimum density amounting to 0.33g/L of the bottle volume

• It limits the amount of oxygen in the bottle that will degrade any unavoidable organic matter to prevent that gaseous explosion mentioned above.
• Limiting the amount of oxygen also results in the brick being less of a fire hazard, and this density has been tested to be as fire-safe as most regular household furniture.
• Lastly, it ensures an approximate solidness to the brick in order for it to be structurally-sound to make things out of.

Thirdly, the Ecobrick must be logged and validated on the gobrik.com website. This process is very easy and it has a number of benefits:

• It provides each Ecobrick with a unique identification number so that it can be identified in the future as a validated Ecobrick.
• It enables you to track your progress and feel pride, to help build a lifestyle habit of Ecobricking.
• Validated bricks are trusted bricks, so you can safely donate them to community projects and you have peace of mind that, handled correctly, it will survive hundreds of years.
• If you are building something with a specific type of brick, it enables you to send or exchange ecobricks for the ones you are after.
• By helping with the validating process, you earn credits which can then be exchanged for Ecobrick courses or sustainable products.

Plastic Recycling

Surely recycling is a better solution? Well, here's some dirty little secrets about plastic recycling:

• Your plastic can only be recycled or, more accurately, 'downcycled' into a lower grade of plastic, and there's a maximum of seven times this can happen. It cannot be endlessly recycled like other materials such as paper, glass and aluminium.
• Downcycling takes a lot of energy, requires virgin plastic and needs chemical softeners – it is not a clean process.
• It is a recycling 'industry' for a reason. Those recycling companies are in it for profit, so they focus their time and money on the two types of plastic that are the most profitable to recycle. And the rest? A surprising amount of it will end up in the bin anyway.
• Downcycled plastic is largely made into single-use items. The average time that a single-use item is used is 15 minutes.

The Best Solution

The imperfect but better solution

https://www.ecobricks.org/

https://www.gobrik.com/

Content courtesy of Danielle Wilkinson. You can read the full article here: https://concentrated-goodness.com/why-ecobrick

Article by Kerrie Watkins – GEA Certified Ecobrick Trainer