(BIVN) – The Hawaiʻi County Environmental Management Commission recently learned about one potential solution for the disposal of some non-recyclable plastics.

At the November 27 meeting in Hilo, Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund biologist Megan Lamson introduced the commission to the “ByBlock”.

The ByFusion website says the company’s “eco-friendly process uses steam and compression to convert all types of plastic waste into a revolutionary building material called ByBlock®”, which is “an advanced, cost-effective building material.”

“We partner with material recycling facilities, governments, municipalities and corporations,” the ByFusion website says.

“We’ve been mass producing and consuming plastics since 1950’s,” said Lamson, who for over a decade has helped the non-profit Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund pull marine debris off Hawaiʻi shorelines. “So even if we cut it off, and move forward with single-use plastic phase-out / bans state-wide, we’re still going to have an awful lot of waste. We’re still gonna have tons and tons washing up along our shorelines.”

“Its a win/win,” Lamson said. “Because we have a disposal issue. Right now, we are throwing the vast amounts of our mixed plastic waste that isn’t derelict fishing nets away. They’re just going in the landfill.”

Lamson, who said she has no financial stake in the ByFusion company, flew to Kauai to attend the blessing of the first ever permanent building made of ByBlocks.

“We don’t want to get into a situation where we need to consume more and more plastics,” Lamson told the commission. “Ideally, if this business model works, for the ByFusion company or our island, they’ll be out of a job in several decades.”