What if there was a machine that could automatically collect rubble from torn-down buildings and transform the material into new bricks? That’s exactly what designers Youngwoo Park, Hoyoung Lee and Miyeon Kim are proposing with their “Return Brick” recycling machine, which could help keep construction materials out of the landfill. The little robotic machine would search for small fragments of brick and concrete, grind them up, and reform those pieces into new Lego-like bricks, which are easier to stack and build with.

89% of construction waste is brick and concrete, so there is a large amount of material that could be recycled if only it were properly collected. Return Brick is a small robot that rolls around trolling for rubble, sucking up small pieces of concrete and brick. After it has enough material, the crusher begins to break the waste down into even smaller bits and then water or a hardening agent is sprayed onto the material. Next a compressor forms the powdered material into a solid brick and spits it out the side.

The newly formed bricks looks a bit like a Lego blocks and stack the same way, overlapping and connecting with the pegs and the holes. In theory, the newly formed brick provides similar structural stability with less material. If only a machine like this already existed — it would be perfect to help in the reconstruction of Haiti after the earthquake. Companies should already be working in Haiti to recycle the debris in order to rebuild, but with this robot they could rebuild even quicker.

Bionic Yarn is a New York-based textile manufacturing company that uses recycled plastic beverage bottles as a raw material to produce premium yarns and fabrics that are used in making backpacks, luggage, handbags and various kinds of apparel for some of the leading fashion houses such as Moncler, Gap and Mountain Hardware.

Buzz-Beast explains their process of producing the yarn from recycled plastic:

The Bionic yarn constructing is achieved by covering a PETE (recycled plastic) corespun yarn in a helix formation with two surface filament layers in opposite directions. This creates a counterforce on each component and there by binds them together, having an effect similar to a “Chinese finger trap.” This in turn creates an extremely durable fabric. The alternate fibers used in the core and the helix of bionic hlx yarn are nylon, high tenacity polyester, lycra, and cotton.

Here’s a video of Grammy winning producer and partner in the company, Pharrell Williams discussing Bionic Yarn and sustainability with Bill Clinton:

Bill Clinton and Pharrell discuss Bionic Yarn and Sustainability from Bionic Yarn on Vimeo.

Bionic Yarn

Buzz-Beast: “Pharrell Williams x Bionic Yarn | Eco Sustainable Clothing”

LifeCell Project is 501c3 non-profit organization that recycles small electronics to help buy LifeStraws - revolutionary personal
water filters - for the nearly 1 billion people on Earth who don’t have access
to clean water. 

Here are two quick facts:

• Every day, 6000 people, mainly children, die from drinking unsafe water.

• At the same time, hundreds of thousands of cell phones get tossed into landfills each day, where they release toxins into the environment.

Through their efforts, they seek to address both crises at the same time. Giving life, from old cells - The LifeCell Project. Its a novel proposition