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Fab.BRICK - from textile waste to raw material

Last updated: Aug 13, 2021

Summary

Fab.BRICK is an innovation from French architect Clarisse Merlet, who began to look at using waste materials in architectural design and the construction sector, rather than virgin raw material. She explored using plastic bottles, cardboard, and other waste items, but eventually decided to delve further into textiles, since this sector also contributes to global pollution. She used the natural properties of the textile waste- thermal and acoustic insulation- to develop the material into a useable textile bricks.

Problem

There are around 4 millions tons of textile waste in Europe every year, and only 32.5% of clothes in the French market are gathered by recycling agencies annually. The remainder of this waste ends up in landfills, filling them up and also wasting the raw materials that could be reused or repurposed.

Solution

Fab.BRICK developed machines that can create bricks out of discarded clothes. Around three discarded t-shirts can be fused together by bio-ecological glue to form a 400 g brick. Textiles and clothing can be easily used in the bricks without requiring much mechanical or material breakdown or augmentation first. This makes it a labor and cost-efficient means of upcycling material.

These bricks are now used by retail brands as partition walls in their shops, decoration for the stock shelves, art pieces or as the base for lamps and chairs.

This innovation is helping to keep clothing waste in circulation and out of landfills, and is utilizing existing material qualities in a new sector and for a novel application.