Ecobrick & Earth Building

Build beautiful, strong, circular, resilient and regenerative structures.

By using time-tested local building traditions and the power of community collaboration, we can safely secure plastic while putting it to good use in earthen constructions.

Earth and Ecobrick building methods are inspired by the natural building traditions of our ancestors.  Almost every continent has its ancient methods that have used earth to build structures that have stood for centuries.  By adapting these methods and maintaining their principles, we can put ecobricks to good use.  Not only can we build beautiful, strong and resilient structures, we can secure plastic locally and indefinitely– ensuring that it is on a path that keeps it from ever contaminating the environment.

Earth Building is known by different names around the world– “adobe”, “wattle-and-daub”, “cob”, “organic cement” etc.  These low-energy and low-cost traditions have resulted in incredibly beautiful and varying structures around the world.  Despite their unique shapes and forms they share certain fundamentals in common– such as using local materials, including the community, and enriching the local ecology.  Our ancestors took these principles for granted, but today its more important than ever to learn from the wisdom embedded in their ways.

As we will see, Earth and Ecobrick building contrasts starkly with today’s conventional construction methods. Whereas commercial construction methods rely on high energy, industrial process and are ecologically damaging, earthen building is ecologically enriching.  Whereas commercial construction is powered by petroleum energy and dependent on capital, earthen constructions strives to be free of both.  Wheras, commercial construction loosens plastic and CO2 into the biosphere, earthen building strives to secure them.  Whereas commercial construction is has a top-down owner/boss/employee structure, earthen building strives to involve everyone in the community.

Read on to learn about the regenerative principles that guide earth building!

Keeping it Local

Earth buidling is all about improvising with what you’ve got.

If there’s anything that the very different earth building tradition around the world have in common it is that they used what was local to them.  Earth building makes use of the earth (sand, clay, rock, pebbles, etc.) that is nearby along with the local organic materials (wood, bamboo, reeds, grasses, etc).  By keeping it local, we reduce the need for long haul transportation.  This ensures a low-energy impact footprint for our building and it encourages the community management of regrowing trees and bamboo to meet local needs.

There’s an added bonus.  As we’re using the same resources that our neighbours have access to, they can copy us! As we all work with the same resources, we can learn from the trial and error of our neighbours, and they can learn from us.  Sure and steady, our methods get better and greener.  Since our shared resources come from nearby,  we can also work together in the regrowth and management of resources.

Today’s commercial construction, in contrast, relies on industrial processes and the transportation of materials from far away.  Often these materials involve much energy in their fabrication and transportation.  Because we don’t get to see where they come from, we are often not aware of the mining, smelting, and energy expenditure behind them.

Cradle-to-Cradle

When building with earth we plan for the next destruction of our creation.  In so doing we ensure that the materials we use can be used again and again.  Essential to Earth and Ecobrick building and the effective sequestration of plastic, is circular design.  This is one of the main principles and reasons for the use of earth with ecobricks.

Unlike cement, when an earthen construction comes to its end, the ecobricks can be extracted and put to use again. Cement is very hard to break up so ecobricks are likely to be damaged in the process, which could also release their contents. Earth completely protects the plastic from all forms of degradation and readily crumbles (especially after some soaking) to release the ecobricks un-scarred. Planning for the next life (or cradle) of a construction is also known as cradle-to-cradle design.

It is also important to think of abandoned and forgotten constructions.  Unlike cement, cob is fertile, so plants will easily grow on it.  In the case of a forgotten construction, plants will grow, die, and grow again, effectively subsuming the ecobricks over time in earth.

Learn more about Cradle to Cradle Design

Collaboration Powered

Men, women, young, old, and everyone in between can assist in ecobrick and earth building collaborations.

Earth and ecobrick building is powered by community collaboration rather than petroleum or capital.

A common misunderstanding is to confuse building with ecobricks with conventional or commercial building methods: paying builders, using cement and machines, etc.

Instead, earth and ecobrick methods are designed from the ground up to be replicable, non-capital, non-petroleum, collaboration powered, using cradle-to-cradle design 

Furthermore, earth building techniques are what we call transcaste– meaning that the building process is non hierarchical and readily involves all genders, ages, rich, poor and everyone in between, on a level playing field of participation.

Learn more about Ecobrick Principles

Planning for the long long-term

Plastic is potentially a toxic material.  When working and building with plastic it is essential to plan ahead for the next thousand years.  Ecobricking and Earth Building are a way to secure plastic within a safe long-term trajectory.

A forgotten earth and ecobrick bench after seven years.

The danger of plastic comes from its exposed surface area.  To the extent that plastic’s surface area is exposed to the elements, it will steadily break down over time into smaller and smaller pieces (microplastics) and leach toxins.  By packing and covering ecobricks we keep the plastic safe and secure.

Packing plastic into an ecobrick results in the terminal reduction of net surface area. An ecobrick is essentially many many square meters of plastic compressed into a very small space!  Using earth to build with ecobricks is a way to further secure plastic.

Earth building involves making a mortar (we call it ‘cob’) to completely encase ecobricks. This way not a single square-centimeter of plastic is exposed! Without exposure to sun, friction, or heat the plastic inside the ecobricks can no longer degrade in any way.

It is also important to consider the abandonment of projects. Cob, in contrast to cement, can be more readily populated by plants. Even if long-term structures collapse, earth covered ecobricks have no way to degrade and will remain intact indefinitely. The crumbled earth gradually becomes fertile ground for plants, trees, and forest to cover.

By building with earth, using cradle-to-cradle principles, we point our ecobricks towards a long-term journey through time that maximizes its chance of indefinitely securing plastic.

We call this trajectory ‘plastic sequestration‘.

Learn more about Plastic Sequestration

Ecobrick Building Custodianship Agreements

The Global Ecobrick Alliance strongly recommends that in that end-of-life plans be established with the custodians of the site. These terms of transfer agreements must lay out the responsibilities for the construction’s maintenance and end as well as the responsibilities that the site’s custodian acquires for the construction’s ecobricks. This agreement must account for the eventual removal and reuse of the ecobricks.

The GEA has developed a free-use sample and template of our Ecobrick Building & Custodianship Agreement. Download the PDF and ODG versions here:

 CAUTION:  Earth & Ecobrick building is not compatible with conventional building methods.

Today’s commercial construction is driven by capital and uses industrial methods and materials that add CO2 and plastic to the biosphere.  GEA building methods are regenerative, driven by inclusive collaboration and intentionally secure more CO2 and plastic out of the biosphere than they generate.

First Indonesian Earth & Ecobrick Mandala Park

We’re proud to announce the successful completion of the first GEA official Earth & Ecobrick Build in Probolingo, East Java! The training had been four years in the works and a year in planning. The workshop introduced new brand new ecobrick concepts  and techniques — in particular how to put ecobricks to use with earth construction methods.

Regenerative

Ecobricking is a what we call a regenerative technology. Rather than "sustaining" the status quo, we're careful that everything we do re-greens rather than greys.

Our Principles

Plastic Sequestration

Earth building is the final step in putting ecobricked plastic on a safe, thousand year journey out of industry and out of the biosphere.

Learn More

Circular Design

Ecobricks are a deep solution to plastic. Ecobricks and all the applications on this site are a fundamentally ‘Cradle-to-Cradle’.

Learn More

Earth Building Methods

Learn the proper techniques to building regeneratively with ecobricks.

Methods

Transcaste

In contrast to conventional construction, Earth and ecobricking building is transcaste, meaning that it is accessible to men and women, young and old, black and white, and everyone in between!

Methods