The U.S. produces about 40 million tons of plastic waste each year. But recycling is expensive, and recycling facilities have difficulty keeping up. Most plastic ends up in landfills. ByFusion, a company in Los Angeles, California, wants to change this.

ByFusion created a process to transform any mix of plastic into construction material. Machines use steam and , a squeezing force, to fuse piles of plastic together. This produces a building block that weighs less than typical cement blocks. The blocks can be used to build walls, fences, and more.