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Re:Engineer turns plastic into bricks that are reportedly st... by bragr on Thursday May 19, 2022 @07:11PM (#31441384)
I bet sourcing all that sand will be a bigger problem than they expect as sand is a rare and nonrenewable resource that's heavily in demand for concrete and sourcing it has all sorts of environmental issues of its own.

They should look into replacing that with something that's also cheap waste. Maybe crushed glass would work?

Re:Engineer turns plastic into bricks that are reportedly st... by Dylan16807 on Thursday May 19, 2022 @07:22PM (#31441476)
Certain shapes of sand are rare compared to global construction, sand in general isn't. Unclear what this method needs.
Re:Engineer turns plastic into bricks that are reportedly st... by ProtoMathics on Thursday May 19, 2022 @07:18PM (#31441439)
glass is made from sand, there is less glass in world then sand, and again, why lock more precious commodity in another product which we are already making from other less precious commodity ?
Re:Engineer turns plastic into bricks that are reportedly st... by max599 on Friday May 20, 2022 @01:10AM (#31443589)
It's the shape of the grains of sand that's bad for concrete, not the chemical composition. It gets less angular and more round when it moves in the desert and it doesn't bound well with cement. Sand that is good for concrete is rare and making it is expensive. The "bad" sand that is common everywhere is still perfect to make glass.
Re:Engineer turns plastic into bricks that are reportedly st... by once_inc on Friday May 20, 2022 @03:22AM (#31444319)
twenty-five percent of Africa is literally covered in sand. Sand comes in different granularity and compositions, but for concrete this is often irrelevant.
Re:Engineer turns plastic into bricks that are reportedly st... by valdiorn on Friday May 20, 2022 @06:12AM (#31445401)
Uh, for concrete the granularity and composition is VERY important. In fact it's one of the most important parameters you can tweak in a concrete mix.

To the point that weird stuff like this happens quite frequently:

https://www.quora.com/Is-it-true-that-Saudi-Arabia-imports-s...

My local DIY store here in the UK carries some 8 different types of sand, all for different purposes.

Re:Engineer turns plastic into bricks that are reportedly st... by formerly_proven on Friday May 20, 2022 @03:44AM (#31444465)
Actually it matters quite a bit. That's why countries which are literally filled with desert sand import river/sea sand for their construction. Finding a way to make desert sand usable for construction concrete would be significant.