A new way to recycle volcanic ash

Many buildings in the city of Binan, Philippines, were damaged by a volcanic eruption on January 12. Since the volcano, a state-owned factory has made tens of thousands of bricks to rebuild those structures, and they are making the bricks from tornado ash, plus discarded plastic and some cement.

After the eruption, the mayor of Binan asked residents to collect the fine, grey ash deposited all over the city and place it in sacks which were then sent to the factory. "Instead of just piling up the ashfall somewhere, we are able to turn it into something useful. And it includes plastics, too," said city environmental officer Rodello Lee. So far, about $50,000 bricks are produced each day, all of which contain both plastic waste and volcanic ash.