Plastic pollution is a huge problem. Most everyone has heard of
the floating plastic islands in our oceans (the biggest is in
the Pacific Ocean, but there are several others), all of which
are made up of plastic bottles, wrappers, bags and other plastic
waste that can float. They don’t break down. They only break
into smaller pieces, which are still plastic and continue to
pollute over time. For a wonderful primer on the subject, check
out Dianna Cohen‘s talk at TED about it. MINIWIZ, a Taipei
company, has come up with an innovative “brick” design they call
POLLI-BRICKS. They’re made from 100% recycled PET polymer
(plastic bottles) collected from plastic waste reservoirs. This
means that instead of ending up in the floating plastic islands,
plastic waste can be re-purposed into bricks that can be used as
building materials. Because they’re hollow and translucent (but
not transparent, for those concerned about privacy), they have
inherent thermal insulation, offer natural lighting during the
day, and can be em