University Professor Launches ‘World-First’ Recycled Brick

A university professor has launched what is claimed to be the world’s first building brick made from 90% recycled construction and demolition waste, which she hopes will help support the sustainability ambitions of today’s construction industry.

The K-Briq is claimed to produce just a tenth of the CO2 emissions of a traditional fired brick, is said to use less than a tenth of the energy in its manufacture, and can be made in any colour.Incubated at Heriot-Watt University and now the first product from clean tech spin-out, Kenoteq Ltd, the new company was featured on BBC’s The One Show earlier this week.

Professor Gabriela Medero, who conceived the idea of the K-Briq more than 10 years ago, said: “We hope K-Briq will help support the sustainability ambitions of today’s construction industry. I have spent many years researching building materials and have been concerned that modern construction techniques exploit raw materials without considering that they are amongst the largest contributors to carbon emissions. The amount of waste they produce is not sustainable long-term.