Seven Waste Products Being Salvaged For Your Next Construction Project
Last Updated: Apr 11, 2025One person's trash can be another person's construction material, as innovative companies worldwide find a way to divert tonnes of waste from the landfill. With a bit of ingenuity and some out-of-the-box thinking, items that would have been dumped and forgotten have found new life as insulation, flooring, walls, and more. We gathered some of the most incredible ways these environment-driven makers have reimagined discarded waste into valuable resources.
Table of Contents
- Coffee Husks Become Wall Boards for Prefab Houses in Colombia
- How Can Shredded Plastic Water Bottles Become Foam Wall Panels?
- Old Jeans Become Insulation
- How Can Wine Corks Be Transformed Into Flooring and Wall Panels?
- Natural Bark Finds New Purpose as Siding
- How is Recycled Glass Turned Into Tiles and Countertops?
- How Do Plastic Scraps Get Transformed Into Building Blocks?
Coffee Husks Become Wall Boards for Prefab Houses in Colombia
When coffee beans are roasted, the thin membrane comes off the bean. These discarded piles of coffee husks eventually produce methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. However, Woodpecker, a Bogota-based company, discovered that the husks can be transformed into a lightweight yet durable construction material when combined with recycled plastic.
Developed ten years ago, Woodpecker has been incorporating coffee husk fibers to make wallboards. They click together onto steel frames to build prefab houses and schools in remote rural areas of Colombia. Because the country is one of the world's leading coffee-producing companies, these raw materials are readily available.
Once the husks are processed with recycled plastic, the resulting construction material is insect-resistant, affordable, durable, and fireproof – offering the perfect housing solution.
How Can Shredded Plastic Water Bottles Become Foam Wall Panels?
Instead of languishing forever in a giant landfill or the ocean, a construction company is putting millions of plastic water bottles to better use as high-performing building materials for houses and decks. Based in Nova Scotia on Canada's East Coast, JD Composite's structural insulated panels are built with a foam core material consisting of recycled plastic bottles bonded with specialized laminates.
First, Ontario-based company Armacell processes the bottles: After shredding and heating the plastic into small pellets, it is treated with gases and melted into foam. Once it's cool, the hardened foam gets a fiberglass coating, followed by UV-resistant paint. The foam panels then form insulating 5.9-inch-thick walls.
The company recently built a 2,000-square-foot beach house using 620,000 recycled plastic bottles. Not only was it made to withstand Nova Scotia's gale-force winds, but the home is energy-efficient and affordable.
How Can Wine Corks Be Transformed Into Flooring and Wall Panels?
Instead of popping the corks from wine bottles straight into the trash bin, several companies recycle them into sustainable building materials.
Since 2008, Cork ReHarvest has collected and recycled billions of corks from across North America. The organization places cork collection boxes in grocery stores. It also offers educational programs to raise awareness about cork forests and works with partners that recycle the corks into different products.
One of its partners, Jelinek Cork Group, which has offices in six countries, is a leader in the cork recycling movement. The company grinds up corks and uses the grain to make flooring, wall tiles, and bulletin boards.
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How Do Plastic Scraps Get Transformed Into Building Blocks?
With its goal to recycle 100 million tons of plastic by 2030, ByFusion has big dreams. It developed a building material called RePlast to create an inexpensive modular product. The product can be used for all kinds of construction projects, including retaining walls, furniture, outdoor sheds, fences, furniture, and more. They use a carbon-neutral, non-toxic manufacturing process where the discarded plastic is shredded, superheated, and then fused into blocks.
The final product generates 41% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than concrete blocks. ByBlock is said to be the first construction-grade building material crafted entirely from recycled plastic waste. Unlike concrete, it won't crack, and the product doesn't require any glue.
Wendy Helfenbaum
Wendy Helfenbaum is a Montreal-based journalist and TV producer whose work has appeared in many outlets including Apartment Therapy, Metropolis, Architectural Digest’s AD Pro, AARP, Costco Connection, Country Gardens, Realtor.com, Style at Home, Canadian Living and many more. Follow her @WendyHelfenbaum