One man's trash is another man's flood-resistant paving, as one U.K. research team proved, according to the BBC.
A team from the University of Central Lancashire have just created a new form of concrete made from crushed shellfish shells. To get materials, they turned to the fishmongers of Fleetwood, England, who were just throwing their scallop and whelk shells away.
"We have to wash them and crush them and then we have to sieve them to the right size so that they can go into the concrete," said professor Karl Williams, the project lead, per the BBC.
The result is a porous concrete mixture similar to Miami Echo's Echo Flow. Water can run through the many holes in the concrete and escape into the ground below, instead of pooling on top like it would with traditional concrete and asphalt, the BBC explains.
"When it rains, the water will permeate through and then will dissipate into ground, so stopping flooding, and this particular garden area was very prone to flooding," Williams said, speaking of one of the project's test areas.
The research team is testing the product in a community garden belonging to The People's Pantry, a community food initiative that lets locals grow their own food. Located in Blackpool, the spot had previously been prone to flooded and swampy conditions.
"It was bad before because it kept flooding; we were walking about in mud," Maggie Gregson, a Bostonway resident, said, per the BBC. "We were doing some tests the other week and we were pouring water in ... and it works. I think it's an absolutely brilliant idea."
The substance has other benefits, according to Helen Jones of Leftcoast, which built People's Pantry. "We needed a flooring that would be something which would be slip and trip proof," she told the BBC. "The fact that it also takes shells from a local fishing industry and stops it going to landfill and repurposes it fits with everything else we've been doing inside."
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