Plastic waste can now be made into eco-friendly bricks for construction.

US firm ByFusion’s RePlast machine turns any type of plastic waste into a solid block that can replace traditional bricks in buildings.

The bricks produce 95% less greenhouse gases to make than a concrete block, have very high thermal and acoustic insulation properties and do not need to be stuck together with adhesive.

The machine runs on either gas or electric and doesn’t require the plastic to be sorted or washed.

The problem of plastic waste is a mammoth one, with only 8% of the 300 million tonnes of plastic waste we make each year being recycled.

According to statistics by the World Economic Forum, by the year 2050, there will be more plastic waste in oceans than there are fish!

Innovations that could turn mountains of rubbish into functional products are crucial to helping solve this problem.