We’ve been using the same bricks for over 5,000 years. This engineer says it’s time for a change.

CNN — Although we’re surrounded by millions of them every day, most of us don’t think about bricks too often. Made from more than 90% construction waste, Medero says the K-Briq – which does not need to be fired in a kiln – produces less than a tenth of the carbon emissions of conventional bricks. Earlier this year, Kenoteq won its first commission – to supply bricks for the Serpentine Pavilion 2020 in London’s Hyde Park. In the UK, around 2.5 billion new bricks are used in construction every year – and about the same number of old bricks are demolished. According to Bob Geldermans, a climate design and sustainability researcher at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, reclaiming bricks is an expensive and “labor-intensive process.” According to the UK’s Brick Development Association, old brick structures need to be carefully dismantled and the bricks cleaned of mortar with hammers and chisels.