HK Firm Upcycles Old Washing Machines... Into Bricks

A Hong Kong start-up has joined forces with Sino Group, the developer, to upcycle plastic waste into sustainable construction materials.

The founder of EcoBricks, Shervin Sharghy, told RTHK's Hong Kong Today programme the firm recycles plastic into high-grade materials that are in line with or exceed local and international standards. He described a project at the Gold Coast where 560 old washing machines were used to create over 15,000 "eco paving bricks".

"Our ground-breaking solution has actually been able to recycle all seven type of plastic, which means we can take mixed plastics and also composite plastics which are currently impossible to recycle and would otherwise go to landfill," Mr Sharghy said. "We transform them into high-grade building materials."

He added: "We've been piloting them at several test sites and our first has been our inaugural project in Gold Coast where we upcycled old washing machines."

That project involved recycling 5.4 tonnes of plastic waste in one go, he said, adding that visitors to the site – and others at Olympian City and the Fullerton Ocean Park Hotel – can "walk on our bricks and won't be able to tell the difference between ours and conventional bricks."

Mr Sharghy said EcoBricks was looking to expand out of Hong Kong to "every country that has plastic waste problems".