Soil and Carboard Could Replace Concrete, Saving Cash and Carbon

A new building material costs one third as much as concrete and can be used in low-rise buildings.

RMIT study lead author Jiaming Ma holding the cardboard-confined rammed earth material. Courtesy of RMIT

Building using soil isn’t new. Structures dating back 10,000 years to Mesopotamia and the Near East were created using techniques like adobe (sun-dried bricks) and rammed earth, including the Great Wall of China.

But for most modern-day uses, it’s undesirable. It is vulnerable to water damage, has high maintenance needs, and exhibits low structural strength, as well as high shrinkage/swelling rates that cause cracks with changing weather.