From now on, there is another excuse to drink beer - provided it is in glass bottles.
Glass waste can indirectly help reduce air pollution, according to Poon Chi-sun of Polytechnic University, whose 'Eco-Block' won two awards at the 6th International Exhibition of Invention.
The Eco-Block is a brick made from recycled glass and construction waste. Professor Poon and his team say the blocks work by catalysing nitrous oxides, a major greenhouse gas contributor in the atmosphere, into non-hazardous substances.
The blocks can reduce the amount of these oxides in the air around them by 20 per cent.
'These bricks can be used to pave pavements in highly polluted areas such as Causeway Bay and Mong Kok,' he said.
The blocks, which cost 20 to 30 per cent more than normal bricks, are already being used at City University, Chinese University and Polytechnic University. Dixon Chan Chun-wan, a former student of Dr Poon, said they started the project about five years ago by picking up glass bottles in the street in Lan Kwai Fong, after noticing that glass was not being recycled in the city.
'Originally, we were unable to convince soft drink companies to give us glass bottles,' he said.