Homes built using bricks made from SEAWEED that’s plaguing Mexico’s coast

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Mexican builder Omar Vazquez Sanchez has created a unique formula to prepare bricks using the sargassum seaweed that continues to plague the coast of the Yucatan peninsula, and has even begun to construct homes with them, as seen in Puerto Morelos on Wednesday.

The first house of this type, which he named Casa Angelita after his mother, was built "after the contingency of 2018, the arrival of sargassum, which for me was an opportunity,” he said. Omar explained that sargassum houses are "a one hundred percent Mexican product, where we participate in a healthy circle. We help clean the beach, we create jobs, we create a product and finally we help low-income people."

The growth of sargassum is said to be a consequence of the use of fertilizers and agrochemicals, as well as deforestation, which leads to a flow of chemical and organic waste into the Amazon River and then into the Atlantic Ocean. The effluent injects a large volume of nutrients and nitrogen into the sea, leading to the mass growth of the seaweed. The resulting algae blooms are later dragged into the Caribbean Sea by marine currents before they wash up on Mexico’s shores.

A 550 km-long (342 mile) mass of the seaweed is now reported to be heading to the Mexican coast. It is said to be around the same size as the Caribbean island state of Jamaica. Some areas expect a drop-off in tourist numbers of around 30 percent as a result of the stinking seaweed, according to reports.

A scientific study by the National Autonomous University of Mexico documented that the massive arrival of sargassum to the Mexican coast has led to the death of 78 species in Quintana Roo state alone, particularly fish and shellfish. The clean-up operation is estimated at around $2.7 million (€2.40 million).

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