Building Homes Out of Rice Waste Is Now a Thing

American homes are starting to wear something you'd usually find rotting in a field or burned by the roadside: rice husks. The BBC reports on how this stubborn by-product of rice farming is being turned into fire-resistant, moisture-proof siding and other building materials, and why builders in places like Park City, Utah, are opting for it over cedar or aluminum (check out photos of one rice-husk residence in Portugal at Dwell). One US company, Modern Mill, says it has already kept more than 20 million pounds of husks out of landfills, with its panels now on condos, homes, and even playgrounds.

The pitch is simple: The same shell that protects rice from rain, pests, and decay can do something similar for walls and decks, while also addressing what to do with the roughly 165 million tons of global rice-husk waste produced annually. The Los Angeles Times has noted that homes built using rice husks also emit very low levels of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, meaning cleaner indoor air. Researchers are exploring rice husk ash as a low-carbon partial or full replacement for cement, which could matter most in rice-growing regions of the "global south," where both housing and waste solutions are in short supply, per the BBC. For the full look at the science, the hurdles, and the global potential, more here.