Our relationship with plastic is a complex issue. Global rates of plastic waste recycling have increased in the past decades¹, but just 9% of plastic is currently recycled² and much of the rest ends up in landfill, or is dumped or burned. And because most plastic originates from fossil fuels, producing more of it contributes to the climate crisis.

But what if there was a way to reuse existing plastic and create a circular system for future plastic production – in the furniture in our homes, walls of our buildings, and sidewalks beneath our feet?

That’s the vision for revia, an innovative new circular building material developed by water and housing product maker LIXIL that reuses hard-to-recycle waste plastic.

Breathing New Life into Waste Plastic

In revia, difficult-to-recycle waste plastic is combined with waste wood, generated from the demolition of buildings and other sources, to create a new material suitable for a wide range of applications. And, importantly, it is created using a technology to crush and extrude different materials together without sorting, with each material playing a different role in the product; some act as adhesives, while others function as fillers. This process makes it possible to effectively use almost all household and commercial waste plastics, including composite plastics.

Using 1 tonne of the material can reduce CO₂ emissions by more than 80%⁴, compared to the CO₂ emitted when the same amount of waste plastics and wood are burned. What’s more, it is a closed-loop solution that can be used again – collected, crushed at the factory and reborn as new revia.

Handmade Aesthetics, Industrial Product

But revia is not just a recycled product – it is a desirable and versatile building material in its own right. It boasts the solidity and weight of an industrial material but with a ‘handmade’, wood-like feel and a texture that plays with light and shadow.

World-renowned architect Kengo Kuma, who designed one of the signature pavilions at the Expo, explains the motivation to use revia: “The pavilion utilizes both traditional Japanese material ‘kaya’ and revia, both of which share the characteristic of being recyclable. We believe it represents the tradition and future of the circular economy that the Japanese have cherished.”

Disposal to Reuse: Building an Ecosystem

LIXIL is currently preparing for mass production of revia, with a goal of establishing a collaborative ecosystem that encompasses the procurement of waste plastic, its recycling, production, sales, installation, and subsequent collection, Shishido says.

The company also sees potential to expand revia’s impact into international markets through measures such as finding adequate business partners and is planning to assess demand outside of Japan in the near future.

Wherever revia is used, LIXIL’s vision is for products made from the waste plastic it collects to be used again by local companies and municipalities – creating a truly circular system.