Most of us have fond memories of building with Lego bricks as kids, imagining the possibility of creating life-sized structures. Now, a Los Angeles-based startup, ByFusion, has taken that childhood dream and turned it into reality by crafting construction bricks from recycled plastic. These bricks, known as ByBlocks, are sturdy enough for use in the construction industry.
ByFusion’s innovative process amalgamates various types of plastic waste, from bottles to grocery bags, into a single, large plastic block—the ByBlock. This inventive approach presents a solution to the pervasive issue of plastic pollution, which often accumulates in landfills or pollutes water sources, adversely affecting ecosystems and breaking down into harmful microplastics.
In Tucson, Arizona, the concept of ByBlocks has gained substantial momentum thanks to a highly successful pilot project endorsed by city councilman Steve Kozachik. Upon recognizing that contaminated plastic waste was neither recyclable nor cost-effective for the city, Kozachik devised an alternative solution. He encouraged residents to deliver their plastic waste to a collection point at his office, which was then sent to ByFusion’s facility in Los Angeles. There, the plastic waste was transformed into the innovative ByBlocks.
These ByBlocks have been used to construct raised flower beds and park benches, capturing the attention and enthusiasm of the city’s residents. However, the environmental impact of transporting waste to and from California remained a concern.
In response to this, ByFusion is taking its technology directly to Tucson, planning to construct a $2.4 million facility within a local landfill, allowing ByBlocks to be produced on-site.
Heidi Kujawa, CEO and founder of ByFusion, emphasizes that their process should not be referred to as recycling. She explains, “Recycling is about taking the water bottles and the food products, you know, the things that have high value, and reconstituting them into pellets and then transforming those back into other, similar products.” ByFusion, on the other hand, doesn’t burn, melt, or liquefy the plastic; instead, they fuse it together, representing a different approach, a re-purposing method.
The Tucson initiative has successfully collected over 100 tons of plastic waste, and the ByBlocks may soon be employed in constructing municipal buildings.
ByFusion primarily utilizes all-electric processing units, producing bricks with 83% less carbon pollution during production compared to concrete blocks. The company aspires to take its bricks global and aims to repurpose 100 million tons of plastic by 2030.
Heidi Kujawa emphasizes the positive impact of ByBlocks: “Every community struggles with plastic waste. Putting in a Blocker [System] is going to help reduce landfill, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce transportation needs, all of that other good stuff.”
By Impact Lab