Can you grow a brick? Turns out, the answer is yes — and it may be a lot better for the environment and safer for the people working in construction zones.

“Right now, the building supplies industry is responsible for 23 per cent of the world’s global CO2 emissions,” said Adrian Simone, who is part of the University of Waterloo student team that created the Bio-Brick.

The technology received national recognition this past week after placing as a runner-up for the James Dyson Award.

“The amount of green options available to builders right now is not adequate, there’s not enough,” Simone said. “The ones that are available are completely priced out, so most people, most builders just can’t use them.”

Simone used to work as a project manager of an asphalt paving company. He said what he saw on site inspired him to try and find an alternative that was safer for workers.

“I would notice that in the middle of the summer, a lot of the guys out there who are laying this asphalt, standing in front of this 120 degree molten tar and the fumes coming off of it, are having horrible effects on their health.”

He said be believes the traditional brick-making process may lead to long-term illnesses and injuries.

“The amount of burns that would happen on site were extremely high,” he said, noting that even with several safety measures in place, workers would get second degree burns on their shins.

The Bio-Brick technology is still in the prototype testing phase. To put it simply, the brick is created at room temperature and uses bacteria to slowly grow a brick in a mould. 

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