Lego Blocks from Straw

For those who loved playing with Lego blocks as kids, Stak Block, from the Goleta, California, company Oryzatech, may be a dream come true. The company is still looking for funding to build a factory but has developed and tested its product: a straw-composite, structural building block made from 96% rice straw. An underutilized waste agricultural product, rice straw has become a disposal problem since burning straw in fields was banned in California and elsewhere. According to the October 2006 issue of Ethanol Producer magazine, California produces 1.35 million tons of rice straw annually from the 600,000 acres (240,000 ha) in rice production, and only 3%–4% of that straw is used commercially.

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