The best sustainable technologies often come from the most unlikely sources, and the BituBlock is certainly no exception. Composed of post-consumer waste from glass to ash to sewage, this powerful innovation rivals concrete in its structural properties.

• The increased demand for reuse/recycling of waste materials from national regulations and EU directives, as well as the issue of sustainable utilisation of primary materials and waste requires the compliance from the construction sector. Therefore, the development and use of construction materials with high recycle content is considered essential.

• Trials investigated the production of bitumenous blocks using two different types of bitumen (50 penetration bitumen and harder H 80/90 bitumen) and waste materials such as crushed glass, pulverised fuel ash (PFA), incinerated sewage sludge ash (ISSA) and steel slag.

The BituBlock does everything a good environmental product should do: conserving resources, reducing emissions and replacing a less sustainable but widely used technology. The BituBlock was developed by Dr. John Forth of the University of Leeds and his team and, with luck, will soon become a widely used product as it becomes more trendy (and lucrative) for architects and developers to go green.