In France, textile waste is estimated to be around 4 million tons and very little of that is collected for reuse or recycling – less than a third in France. French architecture student Clarisse Merlet came up with the idea for FabBRICK, her award-winning company that makes decorative and insulative bricks out of old clothes. The basic component of the bricks is shredded clothing, purchased pre-ground from a supplier in Normandy. Each brick uses the equivalent of two to three T-shirts' worth of material. The scraps are mixed with an ecological glue that Merlet developed herself, then pressed into a brick mold. This mold uses mechanical compression to form the bricks, so it requires no energy beyond what a human worker needs to press it down. The wet bricks are removed from the mold and set out to dry for two weeks before using. The bricks cannot be used for structural work for now but they are fire- and moisture-resistant, and make an excellent thermal and acoustic insulator.