Philippine students turn littered dog poo into bricks

[November 20, 2019]    MANILA (Reuters) - A group of secondary school students in the Philippines has found a way to convert poo from stray dogs into a mixture for bricks, aiming to rid city streets of excrement and potentially even lower construction costs.

Stephanie B. Elmido poses with her project "Bio-bricks" made of dog faeces and cement powder at Justice Cecilia Munoz Palma High School in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines November 11, 2019. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez

As part of a research project, eighth graders in the Payatas district north of the capital Manila gathered and air-dried dog faeces, which were then mixed with cement powder and moulded into rectangular "bio bricks".

"Our streets will really be cleaned up," Mark Acebuche, the students' science class adviser, told Reuters. He hoped local government or corporations would sponsor the students' research to help upgrade production.

Dog ownership in the Philippines is unregulated and rules on taking care of pets are only loosely implemented, leading to a large number of stray dogs.

The students say their "bio bricks" are ideal for sidewalk pavements or small structures like backyard walls. Each brick contains 10 grams of dog poo and 10 grams of cement powder, and has a faint odor that the group says will fade with time.

(Reporting by Ronn Joshua Bautista; Writing by Neil Jerome Morales; editing by Richard Pullin)

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