You know all that plastic floating around the ocean? You know, the stuff that’s killing off wildlife and leaching chemicals into the water? Wouldn’t it be nice if we could scoop it up and use it to build houses? Byfusion has figured out how to do exactly that.

It turns out that only around 8% of our plastic waste gets recycled. The rest ends up in landfills and the ocean. Byfusion has developed a machine that can takes in the non recyclable waste on one end and it poops out durable construction blocks on the other end. The resulting blocks can be used to build walls, houses, schools, pretty much anything that needs to be built. What makes this even better is that it uses the waste and keeps it from being dumped back into the environment.

The system, which is called RePlast, is portable and can be run on gas or electric, and you don’t even need to sort or wash the plastic beforehand.

The company describes the process as “nearly 100-percent carbon neutral, non-toxic manufacturing process,” and that the bricks can help improve the eco-friendly status of building projects and contribute to LEED certification. Currently, the blocks are being used mainly to build road barriers and walls, but the potential is limitless.

How does this compare to traditional cinder block? Well, it has a 95-percent lower greenhouse gas emissions rating. Not too shabby.

ByFusion Transforming Plastic from ByFusion PBC on Vimeo.

Site Making RePlast 10sec from ByFusion PBC on Vimeo.

Source: Inhabitat